Boosting maternal and child healthcare in Dera Murad Jamali, Pakistan

"People in Pakistan, unfortunately, believe that a good delivery has to be short and, as such, practitioners often give large of amounts of oxytocin" sometimes eight times as much as allowed in order to have the quicker deliveries which then leads to more complicated and dangerous births. This is the biggest problem we face here and we are deeply concerned," said Dr Ekdahl. Project Update - 5 Oct 2010

Pakistan

Where childbirth is a deadly part of life

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) set up its project in Kuchlak, in Pakistan’s south western Balochistan province, to assist Afghan refugees who face socio-economic exclusion and restricted access to health care, particularly for women and children. Project Update - 10 Dec 2009

Chad

100 women operated for obstetric fistula so far this year in Chad

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been running a fistula project in Abéché General Hospital in eastern Chad since January 2008, where a team performs surgical operations on patients to repair their internal injuries and provide a cure for their incontinence. Project Update - 21 Sep 2009

Sierra Leone

MSF reduces its presence in Sierra Leone

Over the past few years, MSF has provided medical care in several locations across the country, particularly focusing on pregnant women and children under five. Project Update - 16 Aug 2007

Haiti

Treating bullet wounds and delivering babies

Two women in the maternity yard's waiting room. Since the beginning of the MSF intervention in Choscal, 400 children have been delivered.
"It is difficult to work in this area," says Loris de Filippi, the MSF head of Mission. "But we found it simply unacceptable that a population of a quarter million, the equivalent of a small European city, would be cut off from medical care." Project Update - 27 Dec 2005

Afghanistan

Lack of maternal health care in Afghanistan

This is an edited version of a letter that first appeared in The Lancet. Project Update - 22 Mar 2004

India

MSF develops local counsellors for mental health programme

With an official death toll expected to be in excess of 20,000 and devastation and personal loss having struck nearly every family in the earthquake region, one of the crucial aspects of the MSF intervention in Bhuj and the surrounding area is the development of mental health programmes to assist the local population come to terms with the consequences of the recent earthquake. Project Update - 12 Feb 2001

Women's health

Female genital cutting

MSF strongly opposes the practice of any form of female circumcision on the basis of the contravention of human rights which the practice represents, and its adverse health consequences. Project Update - 13 Sep 1999

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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