As world leaders meet at first-ever UN TB summit, MSF highlights urgent need to scale up newer tools available today to save lives, and develop a fast, safe and simple cure for TB Press Release - 25 Sep 2018

Central Mediterranean – 23 September, 2018 – Over the past 72 hours, Aquarius assisted two boats in distress and now has more than 60 survivors on board, several of whom are psychologically distressed and fatigued from their journeys at sea and experiences in Libya.
SOS Mediterrannee and MSF are reeling from the announcement by the Panama Maritime Authority it has been forced to revoke the registration of the Aquarius under blatant economic and political pressure from the Italian government.
“Five years after the Lampedusa tragedy, when European leaders said ‘never again’ and Italy launched its first large scale search and rescue operation, people are still risking their lives to escape from Libya . News from the Panama Maritime Authority arrived to the Aquarius while its teams were engaged in an active search and rescue operation in the Central Mediterranean.

Mediterranean migration

Italian government pressures Panama to stop Aquarius rescues on world's deadliest maritime route

SOS MEDITERRANEE and MSF demand that European governments allow the Aquarius to continue its rescue mission. Press Release - 23 Sep 2018

Thousands of people seeking safety after fleeing countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, and Congo continue to risk their lives to reach Europe. Those who try to arrive via Turkey and the Aegean Sea have been trapped for an indefinite period of time on islands in Greece as part of the EU/Turkey deal and its deterrence and containment approach.
In Moria refugee camp, on Lesbos island, there are currently more than 7,500 people in a camp made for a maximum of 2,500. With the camp so full, refugees are now staying in an informal extension of the camp known as Olive Grove. The awful conditions at Moria camp/Olive Grove and arbitrary administrative situations have had a dramatic impact on their health and in particular their mental health.
Médecins Sans Frontières teams provide medical and mental health support outside Moria camp and run a clinic for severe mental health cases in Mytilene, the capital of the island.

Greece

Self-harm and attempted suicides increasing for child refugees in Lesbos

MSF teams seeing increasing levels of suicide attempts and self-harm among child refugees on Lesbos, urge Greece and the EU to evacuate vulnerable refugees.

Press Release - 17 Sep 2018

Hepatitis C

MSF calls for end to Gilead’s hepatitis C drug monopoly

This week in Munich, the European Patent Office is hearing a legal challenge filed by groups in 17 countries in March 2017, against an unmerited patent that allows US pharmaceutical corporation Gilead Sciences to charge exorbitant prices in Europe for the key hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir Press Release - 11 Sep 2018

Damaged building in Bin Ashour area consequence of a rocket fired by unknown militia during the fighting that erupted in Tripoli on 26th of August.

Libya

Evacuation of refugees and migrants out of Libya is urgently needed

Thousands of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers arbitrarily held in Libyan detention centres must be immediately released and evacuated to safety out of the country. Press Release - 7 Sep 2018

Libya

Conflict in Tripoli puts lives in danger, demonstrating that Libya is not a place of safety

MSF calls on European governments to acknowledge that Libya is not a place of safety. More must be done to help people trapped within its borders to find a safe and dignified way out. Press Release - 31 Aug 2018

Tun Tun Oo, 40, from Myammar, inside the MSF's Insein clinic in Yangon, Myanmar.

Tun Tun Oo is 40 years old from Hlaing Tharyar. In 2017, he felt severely sick and his body temperature was very low. He went to another hospital where he discovered he had cholera, HIV, and MDR-TB. They treated him for cholera at the hospital, and then referred him to MSF clinic to receive treatment for HIV and TB. At the MSF clinic, the doctors took tests to see which drugs would be the most effective to treat his MDR-TB, and then put him on a treatment regiment that included Bedaquiline. He started to feel dramatically better after one month of treatment. After 5 months of treatment, he was able to have enough strength to go back to work as a street vendor selling dried fish and fish paste.

Currently, he lives with his son who is 5 and a half years old. His wife and their three other children live together in a separate home. She wants him to come back, but he is having a hard time with the decision because he struggles to afford rent (MSF doctor has helped him pay rent the last 2 months). At times, he feels really upset that he didn't get a better life. Both his parents died when he was a child, and he had to take care of himself growing up. Because he grew up alone, he wishes to one day be able to afford a home where his whole family can eat around the dining table together. He knows that he has to complete his treatment so that he can start saving money and take care of his family. His son encourages him to complete the treatment plan so that "we can have more snacks to eat!"

He was excited to speak with MSF about his experience, because he "doesn't want other people to end up like him." He shares his experience with his friends and neighbours, but many do not want to speak to him. He encourages people to get tested and lets them know they can get treatment at MSF. He hopes one that that his wife and kids will come and get tested, too.

Tuberculosis

Improved treatment options recommended by the World Health Organization

MSF calls on Johnson & Johnson to make key drug bedaquiline affordable for all people who need it Press Release - 17 Aug 2018

On August 16, MSF launched inpatient services for severely malnourished children under five years-old, as well as paediatric care for patients under 15 years-old with severe malaria and other diseases, in a facility with a capacity of 30 beds. The medical intervention began as a response to a lack of healthcare assistance to newly arrived displaced people in Bama. Over 1.7 million people have been displaced by the conflict between the Nigerian military and non state armed groups in northeast Nigeria.

Nigeria

Critical humanitarian situation unfolding among internally displaced people in Bama, Borno state

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has started emergency nutritional and paediatric activities in Bama, Borno state, in response to a critical humanitarian situation among newly arrived internally displaced people. Press Release - 17 Aug 2018

At 11:50 AM local time on Friday, 10 August 2018, 25 people were rescued in the Central Mediterranean near the Libyan coast. The rescued people were found adrift on a small wooden boat with no engine on board and were believed to have been at sea for nearly 35 hours. Just hours later, the Aquarius performed a second rescue of 116 men, women and children, including 67 unaccompanied minors, found on an overcrowded wooden boat. Those rescued originated from Somalia, Eritrea, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Togo, Ghana, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. While there were no critical medical cases among those rescued, many people were extremely weak from being out at sea on unstable boats and from their time in Libya where many say they were held in inhumane conditions.

Mediterranean migration

Aquarius calls on European governments to assign place of safety after rescues on Mediterranean

Responding to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Central Mediterranean, a total of 141 people were rescued on Friday by the search and rescue vessel Aquarius, chartered by SOS MEDITERRANEE and operated in partnership with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Press Release - 15 Aug 2018

Ansar and her three-month-old son Salim Ullah inside the MSF hospital in Goyalmara.

Myanmar

Independent humanitarian agencies and access to healthcare still blocked in northern Rakhine

MSF once again requests the government grant immediate and unfettered access to northern Rakhine to all independent and impartial humanitarian actors, to ensure the health needs of the population can be evaluated and addressed. Press Release - 15 Aug 2018

Four mothers posing in a corridor of the Hospital in Bili. All four of them are staying in the hospital with their child, that's suffering from a severe case of malaria. Since the beginning of the project in 2016, the pediatric ward already treated more than 4.000 cases of complicated/severe form of malaria.

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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Global leaders must make bold commitments at first-ever UN tuberculosis summit