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COVID-19 Project in Mons, Belgium

Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

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MSF teams are directly responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in countries all over the world.

Our COVID-19 response focuses on three main priorities:

•    supporting authorities to provide care for COVID-19 patients;
•    protecting people who are vulnerable and at risk, including via vaccination;
•    and keeping essential medical services running.

Across our projects, MSF teams have implemented infection prevention and control measures to protect patients and staff. Having access to protective equipment, to COVID-19 tests, to oxygen and to drugs for supportive care or treatment, is essential as COVID-19 spreads in countries with little access to these tools.

Teams are also vaccinating people to protect against COVID-19 in multiple countries. We’re also speaking out on the need for equitable access to COVID-19 tools, including vaccines and treatments. 

Scroll down to read the latest news and articles from our COVID projects.

Key concerns during COVID-19

We see this new coronavirus has crippled some of the most advanced health systems in the world. This has been in countries with a social safety net, where most people have access to running water and the space to self-isolate. Our greatest concern is for when the virus takes hold in places with more fragile health systems and no, or limited, basic safety net. Other concerns we have include:
Supplying oxygen to COVID-19 patients: Essential, and a huge challenge (EN)
video

Supplying oxygen to COVID-19 patients: Essential, and a huge challenge

How do we supply oxygen to COVID-19 patients?

We cannot treat a person seriously ill with COVID-19 without oxygen. 80 per cent of people hospitalised because of COVID-19 need between three and 15 litres of oxygen per minute. For the 20 per cent who remain, the needs are more severe: more than 20 litres per minute.

Oxygen is therefore vital for them: without it they risk dying. But how do we give oxygen to our patients? What are the constraints of these various methods? And how do we put these systems in place in the countries where we work, particularly in a conflict context like Yemen?

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26 April 2021