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Ebola and haemorrhagic fevers

Defective interfering genomes and Ebola virus persistence

MSF's Research Unit on Humanitarian Stakes and Practices (UREPH) is pleased to announce the publication of the article "Defective interfering genomes and Ebola virus persistence" by Philippe Calain, Laurent Roux & Daniel Kolakofsky, published in The Lancet (Vol. 388, No. 10045, pp. 659–660). Journal article - 18 Aug 2016
 
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) staff stock 17.000 icepacks in cooler containers. 

The icepacks are cooled at a temperature of minus 22. Before being stored in blue boxes with the vaccines. They are spread out in the sun till they reach a temperature of 0°C. As the vaccines have to be kept at the temperature between +2 and +8°C.
Democratic Republic of Congo

MSF mobilises hundreds of workers for massive yellow fever vaccination campaign in Kinshasa

MSF is mobilising considerable resources to support the Congolese authorities in their wide-scale campaign against yellow fever, where 10.5 million people will be vaccinated in the next ten days. Project Update - 16 Aug 2016
 
Abs hospital, in Hajjah governorate, northwestern Yemen, was hit by an airstrike in the afternoon of August 15 at 3.45pm local time, killing at least 14 people and injuring at least 19. The blast immediately killed nine people, including an MSF staff member. Two patients died while being transferred to Al Jamhouri hospital. Five patients remain hospitalised. Abs hospital, supported by MSF since July 2015, was partially destroyed. All remaining patients and staff have been evacuated. The location of the hospital was well known, and the hospital’s GPS coordinates were repeatedly shared with all parties to the conflict, including the Saudi-led coalition.
Yemen

Death toll rises to 19 in airstrike on MSF-supported Abs hospital in Hajjah

On 15 August, Abs hospital, in Hajjah governorate, northwestern Yemen, was hit by an airstrike at at 3.45pm local time. The death toll from the airstrike on the MSF-supported hospital now stands at 19. Project Update - 16 Aug 2016
 
Muenge Kifeta sits with her 1 month old daughter who is checked up by MSF doctor Alexander Akili in the maternity ward at the government hospital in the village of Shamwana, Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo on September 21, 2013. The baby has a serious neo-natal infection but will recover after ongoing observation at the hospital. She traveled 35km from a nearby village in an MSF mobile unit.
Democratic Republic of Congo

After ten years, Shamwana project is closed

Press Release - 16 Aug 2016
 
View to the bay of Tumaco from the urban center.
Colombia

Malaria caused by the falciparum parasite spreading throughout country

By Ana Zaratiegui, MSF’s head of medical operations in in Latin America Project Update - 15 Aug 2016
 
Patients waiting for their operations. Boost hospital is run by MSF in partnership with the Ministry of Public Health. It is one of the biggest MSF runs worldwide: 300 beds, 700 national staff, 25 international staff.
Afghanistan

Patient numbers falling in Helmand as intensifying conflict restricts access

“The intensification and proximity of fighting is clearly limiting access to the hospital,” said Guilhem Molinie, MSF's Country Representative in Afghanistan. “In the immediate aftermath of fighting, one in four patients are currently unable to reach our Emergency Room.” Project Update - 12 Aug 2016
 
53 year old Jean-Pièrre in Zemio in the far southeast of the Central African Republic. Jean-Pièrre is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After the war in Congo in 2012, Jean-Pièrre was in bad health. He was tired and weak, unable to work. He knew he needed to be tested for HIV, but the closest testing center in Congo was over 400 kilometers away. That’s when he decided to come to Zémio, which, at 132 kilometers away, was much closer but across the border in the Central African Republic. His brother carried him across the border on a bike for 5 days. When he arrived at MSF’s clinic in Zemio, he was diagnosed with and began treatment for HIV.
Central African Republic

MSF nurse speaks with patients from HIV programme in Zémio

In these two stories, Keri Geiger, an MSF nurse in Zémio, speaks with two patients from the HIV programme. Jean Pierre, while gravely ill, was carried on a bike by his brother for more than 130 kilometres to the centre, over the border from Congo. Gisele was one of MSF’s first patients in Zémio. Project Update - 12 Aug 2016
 
Dr.Hussein treating a child in an MSF supported hospital in east Aleppo
Syria

People are scared to go to hospitals

Interview with Dr Hussein, a Syrian doctor who manages an MSF-supported hospital in east Aleppo Voices from the Field - 11 Aug 2016
 
In a nightmarish day on the Mediterranean yesterday, 99 survivors from a sinking rubber boat were rescued by the Aquarius, a search and rescue vessel run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and SOS MEDITERRANEE, but an unknown number of men, women and children are missing, presumed drowned. Two women are confirmed dead.

“The scene was devastating, with many urgent medical cases in quick succession. They just kept coming, one after another, unconscious and not breathing,” said MSF nurse Aoife Ni Mhurchu. 

Dozens of people were already in the sea when the Aquarius arrived at the scene around 9.30am, and the rubber boat was already deflating. All floating devices were deployed from Aquarius, rafts were launched and the rescue team started pulling people from the sea. 

The MSF medical team on board the Aquarius resuscitated six young children, and one woman. Despite their best efforts they were unable to resuscitate two other women who had drowned. 

“It is absolutely heartbreaking. These women were mothers. We’re now trying to care for their very young children who remain onboard Aquarius” said Ni Mhurchu.

All medical emergencies together with their caretakers were evacuated from Aquarius by an Italian Navy Helicopter to Sfax, Tunisia – a total of sixteen people. This included all six resuscitated children and several women with water on their lungs. The MSF medical team also treated many severe fuel burns, as well as over a dozen mild to moderate hypothermia cases. Many survivors were disorientated and confused as a result of inhaling fuel which had leaked into the rubber boat.
Refugees, IDPs and people on the move

Humanitarianism and the Migration Crisis

"Humanitarianism and the Migration Crisis" is a collection of articles reflecting on the experiences of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as we grapple with the implications of the global refugee ‘crisis’. Journal article - 11 Aug 2016
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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