Kala azar kills thousands each year

MSF has tested a new rapid diagnostic tool: a dipstick that reacts with antibodies against the kala-azar parasite found in a drop of a patient's blood. The test has been found to give a correct, positive outcome in 90 percent of infected patients. The dipstick is specially designed for use in areas lacking laboratories or hospitals. Project Update - 10 Nov 2006

Democratic Republic of Congo

MSF providing care to cholera outbreak victims in two health centres in Katanga province

"The fast response of teams in situ has been crucial for the quite low mortality rate in the outbreak (in our health structures)," said Dr. Silvia Morote. Project Update - 9 Nov 2006

Sri Lanka

MSF withdraws from Jaffna Peninsula

All medical activities of MSF are suspended. Project Update - 19 Oct 2006

Russia

Helping to reconstruct those damaged by war in Chechnya

MSF works with prominent Chechen surgeons, like Professor Yandarov (left), and Dr Khunarikov (right), a vascular specialist, coordinates the program. Both men worked in Chechnya during some of the heaviest phases of the war, living in basements and operating on patients in makeshift field-hospitals and administrative buildings. Project Update - 11 Oct 2006

Democratic Republic of Congo

Dirty hands disease: MSF emergency team fights typhoid fever epidemic in Kikwit

Since August 20, more than 650 cases of typhoid fever have been reported in Kikwit, Bandundu Province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A team from Médecins Sans Frontières' Pool d'Urgence Congo (PUC) is providing support to Kikwit's main hospital to ensure treatment of patients free of charge. Community workers are raising awareness among the population about basic hygiene practices, in order to halt this serious epidemic of the so-called "dirty hands disease." Project Update - 11 Oct 2006

Pakistan

Interview with national staff, Usman Abid, assistant logistician in Islamabad

"Being the month of Ramadan, it was really painful to see the destruction of houses and dead bodies of people. Many people's reaction was thinking that it was the day of justice." Project Update - 10 Oct 2006

Malaria house calls in Sierra Leone

MSF has been looking at ways to change the situation where so many children get infected then develop life-threatening, severe malaria. Project Update - 25 Sep 2006

Sudan

In the Darfur trap

"We have very limited access to the north of Darfur. So we don't even know what kind of state the people in some areas are in, whether they have access to water, health or food. Neither the government nor the different rebel groups give us the access we need; we are targeted from all corners. There is no question that we are unable to function as we would like," concludes Jean Sebastien Matte. Project Update - 11 Sep 2006

Lebanon

The challenge of providing aid to the most needy in Lebanon

The situation of the estimated 250,000 displaced people in the Aley region (Chouf mountain) is deteriorating. All public buildings are occupied by displaced, and people continue to arrive every day. Project Update - 8 Sep 2006

Sudan

In Darfur, cholera follows reduction in aid

"Cholera has appeared and eight people are already dead," says Hiam El Zein, head of MSF's mission in western Darfur. "These deaths are the result of inadequate aid to the displaced persons. In Mornay, as at other sites where tens of thousands of displaced persons have assembled, some organizations are pulling back from vital services." Project Update - 4 Sep 2006

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Independent medical humanitarian assistance

We provide medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. Our teams are made up of tens of thousands of health professionals, logistic and administrative staff - most of them hired locally. Our actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of independence and impartiality. We are a non-profit, self-governed, member-based organisation.

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