People treated following missile attacks on residential area in Marib governorate

MSF has provided care to people, and urged once again for warring parties to respect International Humanitarian Law, following missiles fired on a residential area in Marib governorate, Yemen. Project Update - 5 Oct 2021

Section of the Ugudo Zii displaced people site, Angumu health zone.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Healthcare for the community by the community

As thousands of people have been displaced by natural disasters and violence in DRC, MSF is working with the community to ensure essential healthcare is still provided. Project Update - 3 Oct 2021

Libya

Medical care resumes in Tripoli detention centres

Three months after we suspended our work in detention centres in Tripoli, Libya, over safety fears, our teams have returned to providing medical care to detained people after an agreement from Libyan authorities. Project Update - 29 Sep 2021

Hameeda and her son look at her medical files. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis 4 years ago, and since then had several treatment regimens, both injections and oral, and several relapses until she was cured with the new oral treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.
Al-Fathilia, Baghdad, Iraq.
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Hamida's testimony:
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My name is Hameeda, I am 65 years old and I am from Baghdad (Iraq). I am a mother of six daughters and three sons.

The first time I was diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) was in 2015. At that time, we didn’t know what was wrong with me. I was coughing, had night-time fever and I wasn’t feeling well. My blood pressure and blood sugar were both high. When I went to seek medical advice I was told that I had had a light stroke, and I was given treatments to better control my hypertension and blood sugar as well as medications for the stroke. But the coughing and the night-time fever didn’t go away.

I started noticing that I was coughing up sputum and my overall health was not improving. My son took me again to be seen by doctors, who then sent us to the National Tuberculosis Institute in Baghdad. There, I was diagnosed with TB. The medical team at the institute prescribed injections for me that made me tired and weak.

When I first got the disease, the doctors told us that TB was an infectious disease and that I had to isolate from others. I stopped going out, visiting others or seeing anyone outside. I took my medications for about eight months, after which point the doctors told me that I was cured. However, since then, I have had three relapses. The last one was at the beginning of 2020. I was told that it was a drug-resistant form of the disease this time around and I was put on a new drug regimen which involved taking pills.

During my previous infections, I was treated with daily injectable medications, which were giving me many side effects. For example, my body was itching a lot and I had developed bruise marks on my skin. But since I started taking oral tablets, I feel better. The tablets still hurt my stomach, but they are much better and I have fewer side effects compared to the injections.

At the beginning of the treatment, I was very tired. I couldn’t walk or even move. My son was taking care of me and only with his help was I able to go to the National Tuberculosis Institute for check-ups. He is the only provider for the family, and it was a hard time for him too. Sometimes he would have to take me to private clinics for consultations for my other chronic conditions, which would also need medications that he had to buy, and they were not cheap. All of that prevented him from going to work and that in turn affected our livelihood. But now, after almost 18 months of taking medication, I’m thankful I have finished my treatment and got rid of the disease and its hardships. Now I am in a better health and I don’t need care from others.

Iraq

Tackling multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, one patient at a time

In Iraq, MSF has been working with the National Tuberculosis Institute to help cure patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis using an oral alternative to the painful daily injections that create severe side-effects. Project Update - 29 Sep 2021

Syria

Northern Syria: Acute water crisis poses serious health risks

People are facing a desperate situation in northern Syria, as limited access to clean water has reached breaking point, creating health problems for millions of people displaced within the region. Project Update - 29 Sep 2021

MSF doctor José Mbuta dresses up before entering the operating theatre of Popokabaka General Referral Hospital.

From mid-July to mid-September, MSF emergency teams responded a typhoid outbreak in Popokabaka health zone, supporting treatment at the general hospital and in seven health centres, providing them with clean water, setting up sensitization activities and reinforcing epidemiological surveillance.
and reinforcing epidemiological surveillance.

In total, 2,180 patients were treated for typhoid fever and 20 surgical operations linked to complications of the disease were performed with MSF’s support. In addition to treating typhoid fever, the MSF team also operated on 11 people for surgical emergencies and treated more than 3,500 patients suffering from simple and severe malaria.
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Democratic Republic of Congo

Deadly typhoid outbreak under control in Popokabaka

An outbreak of potentially deadly typhoid fever in Kwango province, DRC, has finally been brought under control with the help of an MSF emergency team.
Project Update - 24 Sep 2021

Ukraine

Fighting tuberculosis with medication, mental health and social support

For TB patients to get back on their feet and back to their normal lives, comprehensive treatment is needed, from all-oral courses of medication to mental health support. Project Update - 19 Sep 2021

A member of MSF’s mobile vaccination team prepares a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a nursing home in Shayle (Mount Lebanon).

Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

European Union: more empty promises about global COVID-19 vaccine equity

More words from the EU underline the importance of global access to vaccines, but when will words turn to action? Project Update - 15 Sep 2021

Niger

Combating malaria through water treatment for communities in Niger

Since June, through water treatment and insecticides, our teams have been combating the development of mosquito larvae into full-grown mosquitoes, thus curbing malaria cases in Niger ahead of the rainy season. Project Update - 14 Sep 2021

Mariam* is on Lesbos with her family, her husband and her 2-year-old girl, while she is also expecting another child.

We are a family of three. Me, my husband and my two-year-old daughter. I am also 8 months and 3 weeks pregnant. I arrived on Lesbos two years ago. I have lived in Moria camp and now I live in the new camp of Kara Tepe.

When the Moria camp was on fire, everywhere we looked, there was fire. We were in the middle of it, so we went to the mountains to protect ourselves. After the fires, we were in the streets for around ten days. We didn’t have any food and water. Food was not enough for everyone.

Now in Kara Tepe camp, the living conditions continue to be difficult. There is cold, there is heat, we cannot go to the toilet easily, we don’t have a good life here. I don’t feel well. It’s two years that I haven’t gone to a private toilet. We are in a bad mental health situation.

Right now, I don’t know if we can get recognized as asylum seekers or if we are going to get a rejection. We also have problems with getting permission to get outside of the camp. Until now, my daughter has never been to a park. I wish we could move freely, so that I could take my daughter to a park.

She is very aggressive because of what she has experienced here. She “likes” to fight all the time. She doesn’t like to play. She’s not a child who likes to play with friends, to laugh, to speak and play with dolls. All there is in her mind is the the violence she has witnessed here. The fights in the camp, the time that we had to run away, the fires, the teargas. During this age, it is important to care about the little girl, to give her a lot of love and take her to nice places, but this is not possible here.

For example, when she was learning to walk, there were no walls for her to grab to be able to stand. All we had was a blanket hanging so when she was trying to stand, she would grab it and it would fall.

My wish is to get better psychologically. And to be able to go to work, me and my husband and live like a normal person. I don’t like to be told where to go, where not to go and what time to go in and out. I wish, like all the people do, to have a good life without any stress and to have a house and for my daughter to at least play in the house.

Greece

One year on from Moria fire, EU denies dignity to migrants trapped on Greek islands

A year after a fire tore through and destroyed Moria camp, on Lesbos, Greece, thousands of refugees remain on the island, with the EU refusing to provide dignity to those trapped there. Project Update - 10 Sep 2021

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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