The UNISSAHEL research programme aims to study interventions to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) in three West African countries: Mali, Senegal and Tchad. We study the implementation, effectiveness and equity of a series of interventions aimed at reducing difficulties of access to health systems in these three countries, in particular those resulting from the Santé Solidarité Sahel initiative (I3S) founded by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).