In Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, MSF is providing assistance to vulnerable populations who face extreme levels of violence and lack access to healthcare. An MSF mobile team has been visiting the most violent neighbourhoods every day, providing medical care to people living on the streets. Project Update - 25 Oct 2012

Pakistan

MSF treats patients with acute watery diarrhoea

During the monsoon season, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa saw an increase in the number of people diagnosed with acute watery diarrhoea, a condition caused by dirty drinking water, poor sanitation, and poor hygiene conditions. In response to the growing number of cases, the teams from MSF and the Ministry of Health set up temporary treatment centres in Timergara, Hangu and Sadda. Project Update - 23 Oct 2012

Haiti

Cholera remains major public health problem

Hundreds of thousands of people are still at risk from cholera two years after the epidemic began in the aftermath of the earthquake which devastated the country. In Port-au-Prince, more than 350,000 survivors of the earthquake are still in camps, and many thousands are living in shantytowns, where sanitary conditions are deplorable. Project Update - 19 Oct 2012

In March 2012, MSF opened a 56 bed maternity hospital in eastern Khost province. This hospital will provide pregnant women in the region with much needed access to quality maternal healthcare, in one of the most volatile provinces in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan

MSF to resume medical activities in Khost

MSF will resume medical activities in its maternity hospital in Khost Province, Afghanistan. MSF suspended its activities following an explosion in the hospital in April, 2012. Press Release - 17 Oct 2012

Kenya

MSF reiterates its anger and shock one year after the abduction of aid workers from Dadaab

MSF continues to support the families of Blanca Thiebaut and Montserrat Serra, who were abducted while helping Somali refugees in Dadaab, Kenya. MSF reiterates its anger over this act of violence and demands their immediate release. Statement - 11 Oct 2012

Tajikistan

MSF is first to treat children with MDR-TB

For the first time, children in Tajikistan with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) are receiving treatment for the life-threatening disease. MSF has opened a new ward in Machiton hospital, near the capital Dushanbe, where it plans to treat 60 to 100 children with TB, and their family members, over the next three months. Project Update - 10 Oct 2012

Siyad Abdi Ar, 24, was 16 when he was abused by gunmen. For 2 days they beat and tortured him. His arms have been left permanantly disabled and he cannot control his urine. His mother says that before the attack he was a normal teenager, but has not been the same since. She chains him to stop him from wandering away. They have been in Dadaab refugee camp for 6 months. Dadaab is 100 km from the Somali border in eastern Kenya. It is the largest refugee camp in the world holding as many as 450,000 people. Most of the inhabitants have fled conflict in southern Somalia. The World Health Organisation says 1 in 3 Somali’s suffer from some kind of mental illness, the result of a war that has left a generation of Somalis who’ve only known fighting, famine, displacement, and loss.

Mental health

Bringing mental healthcare to people who need it

In the refugee camps of Kenya and beyond, psychologists are an integral part of the teams of MSF. Many of the refugees arriving at Dadaab are traumatised by their experiences in Somalia, where violence and drought led to them fleeing their homes. Since 2009, MSF has provided healthcare in Dadaab’s Dagahaley camp, where services on offer include much-needed mental healthcare and counselling. Project Update - 8 Oct 2012

Yemen

Shooting forces hospital closure

Patients at a surgical hospital in Aden had to be evacuated and staff were forced to shut down the facility following tensions and shooting that took place in and around the compound on 27 September, MSF said today. Press Release - 5 Oct 2012

Sri Lanka

MSF hands over last remaining project

MSF has handed over its last remaining activities in Mullaitivu district, Sri Lanka, having first worked in the country in 1986. The handover of the mental health programme in August 2012 to an established international NGO with a long-term operational plan for the north of the country follows a progressive transfer of medical activities to the Ministry of Health during the last 18 months. Project Update - 4 Oct 2012

Shanti (name changed) is a 38 year old semi-literate woman living in Mumbai. She has been living with HIV and multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) for the past 5 years.

Before coming to MSF, she had undergone TB treatment three times, but, instead of improving, each time her health had worsened.

She started her treatment for MDR-TB from MSF Mumbai Project in November, 2010. Given the side effects of anti-Tb medicines and high pill burden, she finds it difficult to continue with the treatment. â??If pill burden is reduced it would be a great relief. It seems that it is the medicines which have become my food now. There are more medicines in my stomach than food. The doctor says that when my weight will increase, the amount of medicines will decrease.â?

Her husband provides her hope and courage to continue with the treatment . â??If my husband were not there I would have left the treatment long ago. It is his courage and faith that keeps me going.â?

Access to medicines

MSF launches online resource for challenging unwarranted drug patents

A new online resource for civil society and patient groups in developing countries to challenge unwarranted drug patents was launched today by MSF. The Patent Opposition Database comes as many developing countries face dramatically high drug prices because patents block the production of lower-cost generic versions. Press Release - 2 Oct 2012

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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Facing an epidemic of urban violence