Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have fled the economic and political crisis gripping their country for Colombia. While Colombia is able welcome them, the country lacks the resources to help all, leaving many migrants stranded without assistance. Project Update - 6 Feb 2020

Children play in a small river created by heavy rains, next to the area where latrines are constructed inside a camp for internally displaced people in Pulka town, northeast Nigeria.

Nigeria

Northeast Nigeria: “The conflict is intensifying and the needs are massive”

MSF Head of Mission in Nigeria, Luis Eguiluz, describes the situation for people living in northeastern Nigeria, particularly in military-controlled towns, where outside these towns conflict is intensifying and providing help is dangerous. Interview - 4 Feb 2020

Sudan

Four things you need to know about South Sudanese refugees in Sudan

Sudan is home to thousands of South Sudanese refugees. Many live in camps and their needs are great. Here are four things you should know. Project Update - 3 Feb 2020

Syria

Advancing frontlines, mass exodus and reduced access to hospitals in Idlib

While thousands flee the latest military offensive in Idlib, Syria and the frontline advances, many hospitals have been partially or completely destroyed. Project Update - 31 Jan 2020

Lutumba est âgée de 14 mois. Elle est arrivée le 25 décembre dans la soirée avec de la fièvre, de la toux et des diarrhées. Elle a la rougeole et est soignée au centre traitement de la rougeole (CTR) de Muanda.

Elle restera dans le CTR 3 jours en observation puis suivra 3 jours de traitements ambulatoires avant d'être totalement guérie.

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Lutumba is 14 months old. She arrived on December 25 evening with fever, cough and diarrhea. She has measles and is being treated at the Muanda Measles Treatment Center (CTR).

She will remain in the CTR for 3 days under observation and will then follow 3 days of outpatient treatment before being fully cured.

Measles

Tackling a massive measles outbreak in DRC's Kongo Central province

The Democratic Republic of Congo is in the grips of the biggest currently active outbreak of measles in the world. The outbreak has affected all of DRC's 26 provinces; MSF teams are currently responding in Kongo Central. Project Update - 31 Jan 2020

Central American migration

Despite kidnapping and continued risks, migrants continue journey north through Mexico

A group of young Hondurans who were kidnapped and physically and sexually assaulted in Tenosique, Mexico, by a criminal group, have chosen to continue on their journey north towards the US, despite the further risks of assault. Project Update - 30 Jan 2020

MSF is responding to the needs of people affected by the punitive and ever-changing immigration policies of the U.S. and Mexico on the countries' border. People fleeing violence and poverty, most from countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America, but also from other parts of the world, are taking shelter in Matamoros, just across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in the U.S. Some 2,000 people—men, women and children—are living in tents by the international bridge. They receive few services and are largely reliant on volunteers from the U.S. and Mexico that bring food, clean water and clothing. At the bridge encampment, and at shelters in the area, MSF is providing mental health and social services, as well as medical care. Most people at the border are waiting for asylum court hearings across the bridge. Most wait for months; some have recently received court dates a year from now. Matamoros, like other Mexican cities along the border, is not a safe place for migrants and asylum seekers. When they arrive in these cities with nowhere to go and no protection, they become prey for organized crime. Many have been kidnapped and extorted, and have been victims of sexual violence. A lot of these people have also experienced violence along the route north through Mexico.

Central American migration

The devastating toll of 'Remain in Mexico' asylum policy one year later

The cruel and inhumane Remain in Mexico policy - which pushes asylum seekers back into Mexico from the US - has been in place for a year and continues to endanger the lives of vulnerable people. Press Release - 29 Jan 2020

“My son, Mohammed, is almost 3 years old and is suffering from brain disorders. Due to the disease he is having contant headaches and he doesn’t talk much… we try to make him talk but whenever he tries he mumbles. At the moment we live in a tent in the olive grove without electivity and heating. The toilets and the showers are far and there is no warm for bathing him so I only wash him once every two weeks. The doctor suggest us to keep good hygiene but it’s impossible. We try to keep our tent clean but when it rains there is everywhere mud. As a mother, I don’t even care about myself, I only care about my children. When Mohammed complains about the headaches he has due to the disease I know I can do nothing to help him, I only cry. We are here 3,5 months and all the doctors who saw Mohammed here say that he really need to be transferred to mainland in order to receive care for his disease but are still here in Moria”. *Gul, from Afghanistan, mother of 2 living in the Olive Groove in Moria.
At the moment there are more than 19.000 people living in Moria camp which was initially made to host 3.000 people. For the past 4 months MSF doctors have seen at least 140 children with chronic and complex cases who have no access to medication and the specialized care they need. Some of them if they left untreated they might face life-long consequences or even death.

Greece

Greece denies healthcare to seriously ill refugee children on Lesbos

Children who are suffering from chronic and complex diseases, such as heart disease and asthma and are forced to live in unhygienic conditions in Moria camp, Greece, with no appropriate health care and medication. Press Release - 23 Jan 2020

“In 2020, I wish for a world where medicines are not commodities or luxuries but where everyone has fair access to treatment to stay alive and healthy. Medicines shouldn’t be a luxury. I wish for Change not Charity.”

Access to medicines

Our 2020 wishlist - five New Year's resolutions for medical care

In 2020 we want to see change in the way medicines and medical care is accessible for people and patients - not charity. Here are the five things we wish for change this year and beyond. Campaign - 22 Jan 2020

MSF Greece Director of Medical Operational Support Unit, Apostolos Veizis, holding a sign advocating for broader use of the pneumonia vaccine at a lower price

Access to medicines

Gavi must ensure more children get new, more affordable pneumonia vaccine

As vaccine funder Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, celebrates its 20th anniversary, MSF is using the occasion to call out the organisation to ensure more children are protected against deadly pneumonia with a new, more affordable, vaccine. Press Release - 21 Jan 2020

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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Venezuelan migrants at a crossroads on the Colombian border