Since 25 August over 600,000 Rohingyas have fled targeted violence in Myanmar and sought safety across the border in Bangladesh. This brings the total of Rohingyas in Bangladesh to nearly a million refugees. The new arrivals have shared horrific stories with Médecins Sans Frontières about their villages being raided and burned and of widespread violence against civilians. In the first three weeks alone, MSF treated over 250 newly arrived patients with violence-related injuries. Their injuries included bullet wounds, severe burns, blast wounds, stab wounds and sexual violence. Photo Story - 22 Oct 2017

Syria

Update on situation and humanitarian needs after Raqqa offensive

The battle for Raqqa ended on 17 October, and people left the city under frightening circumstances as the offensive drew closer. Project Update - 20 Oct 2017

Syria

Crisis update - October 2017

MSF supports more than 70 medical structures – from hospitals to small health posts – located across Syria. Crisis Update - 20 Oct 2017

Innocente, 33 years old, is a Doctor in a Hospital 45 km away from Tamatave, where MSF is supporting the local hospital.

“For five days, I was really tired; I had aches, headaches and chest pain. I thought I was suffering from angina. On 5 October, I had an alarming symptom: I started spitting blood. As I had done training about pneumonic plague with some colleagues, I went to Tamatave’s hospital to do some tests. I was clearly a suspect case, and then they confirmed that I was infected by the plague. I got an injection and stayed at the hospital. My family was panicked. From the second day, the symptoms began to disappear: swollen glands, headaches etc… As I was feeling better, I began to help the medical staff here even though I was still recovering. There were a lot of patients, a lot of plague cases the first week of the epidemic. Now, it has slowed down. The medical staff told me to take two weeks off to rest. I don’t know if my family is ready for me to come back home. They say they are but I can feel that they’re still afraid of me. So I stay away to leave my family in peace. I’m feeling positive. I don’t want to live with this secret: I had the plague and I was cured.”

Madagascar

MSF provides support in tackling plague outbreak

The plague is understandably a scary disease, but quick, hands-on action can drastically lower the number of fatalities and bring the outbreak to an end. Project Update - 19 Oct 2017

Women wash a plastic sheet, which serves as a roof for their tented shelter, in a stream polluted by rubbish and faeces in Unchiparang makeshift settlement, in Bangladesh, where 33,000 Rohyinga refugees are sheltering after fleeing violence in Myanmar. Beside the stream, children collect water from a hand-dug well. As of mid-October 2017, there is less than one litre of clean drinking water available per person per day in the settlement, which is way below international standards for emergencies.
© Paul Andrew Jabor/MSF

Rohingya refugee crisis

Needs for clean drinking water are still extreme

I have rarely seen so many people, hundreds of thousands, living in makeshift shelters, stranded in an area the size of a small European city, and with very little access to basic services. Voices from the Field - 18 Oct 2017

At least 164,000 people have now crossed into Bangladesh, fleeing violence in Rakhine state, Myanmar that started on 25 August. This massive influx, coming on top of 75,000 people who have arrived since violence began in October 2016, represents one of the largest influxes ever of Rohingyas into Bangladesh.

Rohingya refugee crisis

Crisis update – October 2017

Since 25 August 2017, more than 500,000 Rohingya have fled targeted violence in Rakhine state, Myanmar and crossed the border into neighbouring Bangladesh. Crisis Update - 17 Oct 2017

Iraq

Returnees to Mosul face booby-trapped homes and destruction

“For many people, the long-anticipated return home is turning sour as they find themselves faced with daunting levels of destruction and seemingly endless misery.” Project Update - 17 Oct 2017

XDR-TB patient Nischaya, at home in the Ambedkar Nagar area of Mumbai, with her TB medication.

Nischaya (not real name) is 18 years old, lives in Mumbai, and is one of only a handful of extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) patients in India lucky enough to be able to have acesss to the new drugs. After having been on treatment unsuccessfully for several years, Nischaya was referred to the clinic of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) / Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organisation who since 2006 provides free diagnosis, treatment and support to patients with drug-resistant TB in Mumbai.

Access to medicines

People still being denied improved treatment for multidrug-resistant TB

“Delamanid gave me a second chance at life and I wish that these tablets could be made available to the many people who are struggling with drug-resistant TB.” Press Release - 13 Oct 2017

Once a week MSF mobile medical teams serve the small settlement south of the town of Tuz Kurmato in Salaheddin governorate where 4000 displaced people have been living for the last year and a half after their village, a few miles away, became engulfed in violent fighting. Female and male medical staff provide general health care with special focus on chronic diseases, mother and child care as well as mental health support. The community is afraid to travel around in this highly militarized area, particularly men, and are reluctant to see medical care in close by urban settlement such as Tuz Kurmato or Kirkuk.

Iraq

Hawijah offensive pushes nearly 14,000 people to neighbouring districts

“Fleeing Hawijah was so dangerous that people call it the road of death.” Project Update - 12 Oct 2017

XDR-TB patient Hanif, taking his daily TB medication at home in the Govandi area of Mumbai.

Hanif is 25 years old, lives in Mumbai, and is one of only a handful of extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) patients in India lucky enough to be able to have acesss to the new drugs. After having failed treatment for the fourth time, Hanif was referred to the clinic of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) / Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organisation who since 2006 provides free diagnosis, treatment and support to patients with drug-resistant TB in Mumbai.

Access to medicines

Issue Brief: Four years and counting

We examine current opportunities to optimise MDR-TB treatment and to address the persistent access challenges that put treatment out of reach for people struggling to survive this deadly disease.
msfaccess.org - 10 Oct 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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Voices from the violence