Hakim, 'Living conditions are very difficult; I don't think there's anyone who finds them tolerable'

Houses are overcrowded and built close together; zinc roofs cause temperatures to rise in the summer and drop sharply in the winter; the infrastructure is nearly non-existent; and there is very little privacy in people’s personal lives. Voices from the Field - 24 Feb 2011

Lebanon

Yassin, 67, 'Life... which life do you mean?'

I can’t help remembering the mutilated bodies of my friends, the blood, the smell – it’s still all there, in my head. I got pieces of shrapnel in my knee, my ankle, my hip. Today I don’t work; I survive thanks to support because I am disabled. Voices from the Field - 24 Feb 2011

Democratic Republic of Congo

Reaching out to populations trapped by conflict in Congo

Slideshow available - In North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, violent conflict persists between government forces and an array of military groups. The frontlines between different armed actors constantly shift, and local people are trapped in the middle – often cut off from medical care. In and around Pinga, an MSF team has been reaching out to populations trapped by the conflict by running mobile clinics via motorbike and providing medical services to people who have no other hope of getting medical care. Voices from the Field - 16 Feb 2011

Greece

I live in hell and all I see is nightmares

Testimony of a migrant detained in a border police station in Evros, Greece. Voices from the Field - 4 Feb 2011

Brazil

Establishing long-term mental health care in flood-affected areas in Brazil

MSF teams were shocked by the extent of the disaster. Mental health care was virtually non-existent and became the area of focus. Voices from the Field - 4 Feb 2011

Afghanistan

Dangerous aid in Afghanistan

While NGOs mostly claim their assistance is based on humanitarian principles, this is often inaccurate in Afghanistan. Many NGOs implement nation-building projects at the behest of Afghan and U.S. government agencies, such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The opposition militant groups challenge the legitimacy of these efforts... Voices from the Field - 12 Jan 2011

Kenya

A day in Dadaab

Having escaped the war, Somali refugees wait for a space in Kenya's overcrowded refugee camps Voices from the Field - 22 Dec 2010

Somalia

In a Somaliland camp, a triple blessing amidst ongoing hardship

“I thought my time had come too,” she recalls. “I said goodbye to everyone who visited me and asked them for forgiveness. I never thought that I would survive.”
MSF’s outreach team found Fardows while surveying the Shadaha camp for people in need of emergency medical attention. They took her to hospital, where she learned she was pregnant with triplets. Voices from the Field - 13 Dec 2010

Global

Interview: Dr. Cathy Hewison discusses 'revolutionary' Meningitis vaccine

Médecins Sans Frontières teams are involved in rolling out a mass vaccination campaign against meningitis in Mali and Niger in Africa’s notorious meningitis belt.
Every year, MSF launches mass campaigns but this one is very different; the new vaccine is being employed as a preventive measure and not, as in the past, in response to an actual outbreak of the disease. This brings with it new challenges but many are hoping the new vaccine could help wipe out the devastating meningitis epidemics in the region. MSF is working closely to support the governments’ work in rolling this vaccine out which, in this initial phase, is also being launched in Burkina Faso. Voices from the Field - 6 Dec 2010

Global

Nathan Ford: Flying in the face of evidence

With some 10 million people still waiting for antiretroviral therapy, the moral arguments in support of HIV/AIDS funding are as relevant today as they were a decade ago. Access to medicines is once again a growing concern. Voices from the Field - 1 Dec 2010

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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