Campaner Foundation

The Campaner Foundation (Catalan: Fundació Campaner) is a Spanish non-profit organization founded in 1996 in Mallorca to combat noma (cancrum oris), a rapidly progressing gangrenous infection that mainly affects children living in extreme poverty. The foundation runs prevention, early detection and care programmes primarily in the Diffa Region of Niger and supports the social reintegration and education of affected children.^[1][2]

The organization traces its origins to the mid-1990s, when children with noma received care in Mallorca under the support of the Campaner family. The experience led to the creation of the NGO "Noma Balears", which evolved into the Campaner Foundation in 1996; in 2001 a Nigerien partner entity (Fondation Campaner) was set up to employ local staff.^[3]

Founder and longtime president Josep ("Pep") Campaner died on 3 December 2023; his work in Niger and Mallorca received wide regional coverage.^[4] In 2025 the board appointed former Council of Mallorca president Miquel Ensenyat as the foundation's president.^[5][6]

The foundation structures its work around prevention, clinical assistance and social reintegration.^[7] Prevention teams visit villages to provide hygiene education, screen for early signs of noma, and identify malnourished or abandoned children for referral.^[8]

Clinical assistance includes antibiotics for early cases in communities and care at the foundation's dispensary in Diffa, with referral of severe cases to hospitals in Diffa or Niamey. In selected cases, children have been transferred to Mallorca or Barcelona for reconstructive surgery in collaboration with Spanish hospitals and host families.^[9][10]

Social reintegration initiatives include a children's shelter in Diffa, schooling and vocational training, and support for water wells and food security to mitigate malnutrition, a key risk factor for noma.^[11]

Activities are concentrated in the Diffa Region with coordination in Niamey. Local teams manage fieldwork and liaise with Nigerien authorities; the foundation has reported declines in noma incidence in areas where prevention and treatment campaigns have been sustained, a point covered by independent media reports in the 2000s.^[12]

Financing for these activities combines contributions from individual donors, public bodies and corporate partners. In interviews, Pep Campaner has highlighted the long-term support of the Riu family—particularly hotel executive Carmen Riu Güell—among the main private backers of the centres in Diffa and Niamey.^[13] Following a meeting between Campaner and RIU Hotels co-owner and executive Carmen Riu after his first trip to Niger, the hotel chain became the foundation's main corporate sponsor, according to both company statements and press reports.^[14][15] The partnership has included fundraising campaigns such as the "Salvasonrisas" solidarity wristbands sold in RIU hotels in Spain and has helped sustain children's shelters, outpatient care and schooling and university scholarships for young people affected by noma in Diffa and Niamey.^[16][17]

In 2002 the Government of the Balearic Islands awarded the Campaner Foundation the Ramon Llull Prize and the Gold Medal (Medalla d'Or) for its humanitarian work.^[18][19]

The foundation and its founder have been profiled in regional press and institutions in the Balearic Islands, and featured in awareness events such as Casa África's programme on noma.^[20][21]

The organization maintains a dual structure, with an office and board in Inca, Mallorca—responsible for international cooperation and outreach—and a Niger-based team that coordinates field activities and case management in Niamey and Diffa.^[22]

• Official website
• Media related to Diffa Region at Wikimedia Commons