“While the availability of vaccines has improved in recent years, the number is still far from being sufficient to tackle the large-scale outbreaks we are currently seeing" Press Release - 9 Feb 2018

Pneumonia

MSF challenges Pfizer’s monopoly on lifesaving pneumonia vaccine in South Korea

“In our work, we see many children with life-threatening respiratory infections; many deaths could be prevented if more kids were vaccinated with PCV.” Press Release - 6 Feb 2018

In a nightmarish day on the Mediterranean yesterday, 99 survivors from a sinking rubber boat were rescued by the Aquarius, a search and rescue vessel run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and SOS MEDITERRANEE, but an unknown number of men, women and children are missing, presumed drowned. Two women are confirmed dead.

“The scene was devastating, with many urgent medical cases in quick succession. They just kept coming, one after another, unconscious and not breathing,” said MSF nurse Aoife Ni Mhurchu.

Dozens of people were already in the sea when the Aquarius arrived at the scene around 9.30am, and the rubber boat was already deflating. All floating devices were deployed from Aquarius, rafts were launched and the rescue team started pulling people from the sea.

The MSF medical team on board the Aquarius resuscitated six young children, and one woman. Despite their best efforts they were unable to resuscitate two other women who had drowned.

“It is absolutely heartbreaking. These women were mothers. We’re now trying to care for their very young children who remain onboard Aquarius” said Ni Mhurchu.

All medical emergencies together with their caretakers were evacuated from Aquarius by an Italian Navy Helicopter to Sfax, Tunisia – a total of sixteen people. This included all six resuscitated children and several women with water on their lungs. The MSF medical team also treated many severe fuel burns, as well as over a dozen mild to moderate hypothermia cases. Many survivors were disorientated and confused as a result of inhaling fuel which had leaked into the rubber boat.

Mediterranean migration

99 survivors rescued from sinking dinghy but many presumed drowned

99 survivors from a sinking rubber boat were rescued by the Aquarius, a search and rescue vessel run by MSF and SOS MEDITERRANEE, but an unknown number of men, women and children are missing, presumed drowned. Press Release - 28 Jan 2018

Din Savorn, 50, receives a blood test from MSF laboratory technician Sokchea Yan, at the MSF Hepatitis C clinic at Preah Kossamak Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 20, April 2017.

Access to medicines

MSF challenges Gilead’s patent application for hepatitis C treatment

The world desperately needs more affordable sources of these essential hepatitis C medicines to save lives and contain this growing epidemic. Press Release - 15 Dec 2017

Conditions of life for Rohingya children at the refugee camps in Bangladesh are grim.

Rohingya refugee crisis

MSF surveys estimate that at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed during the attacks in Myanmar

Currently people are still fleeing from Myanmar to Bangladesh and those who do manage to cross the border still report being subject to violence in recent weeks. Press Release - 12 Dec 2017

In the early hours of 4 December, an airstrike damaged the MSF-supported Al Gamhouri hospital in Hajjah city. The emergency room, operating theatre and intensive care unit were damaged and 12 ER patients were evacuated. Despite the damage, Al Gamhouri hospital received 22 casualties from the airstrikes in Hajjah shortly after. Al Gamhouri also received a total of 38 war-wounded patients between 2 and 3 December.
“Health services have been repeatedly attacked over the course of this conflict. Yet again warring parties are not taking measures to spare medical facilities, endangering the lives of patients and medical staff,” says Steve Purbrick, MSF Field Coordinator in Hajjah. “Civilians must be able to flee or seek medical care, ambulances must be allowed to reach the injured and hospitals must be protected”.

Yemen

Intense fighting and blockade further reduce access to healthcare

A week of heavy violence, coupled with a crippling blockade preventing vital supplies entering into Yemen, shows new levels of disregard by warring parties for the civilian population, medical facilities and patients, says Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Press Release - 6 Dec 2017

As the temperatures get lower every day, people have no choice than to live in summer tents in Moria camp or in the olive grove nearby.

Greece

Families trapped on islands on the brink of a humanitarian emergency

For the second consecutive winter, authorities in Greece are trapping thousands of men, women and children on the Greek islands, leaving them on the brink of a humanitarian emergency, warns Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Press Release - 5 Dec 2017

Ukraine

People co-infected with HIV to receive hepatitis C treatment in Mykolaiv region

MSF has begun treatment for hepatitis C with people who are co-infected with hepatitis C and HIV in Mykolaiv region. Press Release - 1 Dec 2017

France

MSF opens day centre for unaccompanied minors in Paris

“We’re calling not only for unconditional protection for these young people as children at risk but also for the upholding of the presumption of minority" Press Release - 28 Nov 2017

Central African Republic

MSF suspends humanitarian relief activities following attack in Bangassou

Following a violent armed robbery on Monday 20 November that threatened the lives of its workers, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has evacuated all 58 national and international staff, and suspended medical operations from Bangassou, a town in southeastern Central African Republic. Press Release - 22 Nov 2017

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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Encouraging new results further demonstrate effectiveness of the single dose oral cholera vaccine