Ebola disease in DRC: find out how we're responding

Appointment of new Secretary General and International Medical Secretary to Médecins Sans Frontières

As of 10 September, Jerome Oberreit begins his tenure as Secretary General of MSF, while Dr Marc Gastellu Etchegorry takes on the new position of International Medical Secretary. Press Release - 11 Sep 2012

India

Novartis challenges pro-health patent law

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis heads to the Indian Supreme Court today in New Delhi, in a final bid to undermine a key public health safeguard in Indian patent law specifically designed to prevent drug companies from abusive patenting practices which keep medicine prices high. If successful, the move would have a devastating impact on access to essential medicines across the developing world, according to MSF, which relies on affordable generic drugs produced in India to carry out its work in 68 countries. Press Release - 11 Sep 2012

Syria

MSF donates medical supplies to Syrian Arab Red Crescent

As conflict in Syria reaches critical levels, MSF has donated a cargo of relief items and medical supplies – including surgical and first aid kits – to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Damascus. Statement - 10 Sep 2012

Mymoma, 20 years old, watches over her son, Sepinna Abdou, 2 years old, as he is treated for severe malaria in the ICU unit of the Guidan Roumdji hospital. Mymoma decided to come to the hospital yesterday as Sepinna developed a fever. It cost her 500 CFA (approximately US$1) to get here from her village; a price she described as “too much”.
MSF teams are on high alert during the rainy season between July and November because of the deadly combination of malnutrition and malaria. Since July, the MSF team in Guidan Roumji has to face a peak of malnutrition and malaria. The number of admissions to MSF’s hospital has doubled over the last weeks and 80 per cent of the children admitted are now suffering from malaria. In Niger, MSF conducts medical and nutritional activities in Tahoua, Maradi, Zinder and Agadez. As of August 2012, more than 50,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition and 105.000 malaria cases have been treated in medical facilities run by MSF and its partners.

Niger

Malaria strikes during a food crisis

Since the beginning of the rainy season, MSF teams are faced with a massive influx of children suffering from malnutrition and malaria. The heavy rains, which started in July, have destroyed crops and grain reserves, making an already desperate food situation worse. The rains have also led to a proliferation of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. Project Update - 10 Sep 2012

Afghanistan

MSF treats victims of bomb blast in Kunduz

Following a major explosion today in the city of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan, more than two dozen people arrived at a surgical hospital run by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Thirteen people who suffered severe blast injuries were dead on arrival at the hospital. Press Release - 10 Sep 2012

Aarsal, Bekaa. Nine members of a Syrian refugee family are living in a single room, part of a collective shelter where 20 refugee families are living. Plastic sheeting on the walls is meant to protect them from wind, rain and snow in this mountainous region where temperatures can drop below zero in wintertime.

Lebanon

Fleeing the violence in Syria: Syrian refugees in Lebanon

While Lebanon has absorbed tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict in neighbouring Syria in recent months, many people are living in overcrowded conditions, suffering psychological distress, are fearful for their safety, and are unable to afford medical care, said the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in a report released today. Report - 7 Sep 2012

Lebanon

Syrian refugees living in fear and uncertainty

While Lebanon has absorbed tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict in neighbouring Syria, many people are living in overcrowded conditions, suffering psychological distress, are fearful for their safety, and are unable to afford medical care, said MSF in a report released today. Press Release - 7 Sep 2012

In April 2012, MSF launched an emergency intervention in Minova and Kalungu (South Kivu, DRC) to help the displaced population due to conflict. Thousands of displaced families began arriving to this area from lakeside towns. MSF is supporting two health centers, carrying out nutrition activities and implementing water and sanitation improvements in a temporary displaced persons site.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Multiple conflicts increase humanitarian needs

MSF has expanded its emergency medical programmes in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in response to increasing humanitarian needs in the region. An MSF emergency intervention is recently started in the unofficial Muganga I camp 20 km west of the provincial capital Goma, where around 17,500 people have spontaneously settled and are living in inhumane conditions. Project Update - 7 Sep 2012

About MSF

Médecins Sans Frontières to receive 2012 J.William Fulbright prize for international understanding

The Fulbright Association will present its 2012 J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding to the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The award, a $50,000 prize, will be received with a speech by Dr Unni Karunakara, International President of MSF. Press Release - 6 Sep 2012

India

Bayer attempting to block affordable patented drugs

German pharmaceutical company Bayer is attempting to overturn a ground-breaking compulsory licence issued by India which has allowed more affordable generic versions of a cancer drug to be produced in the interest of public health. The issue of India’s first compulsory licence is a potential watershed for affordable access to patented medicines. MSF has criticised Bayer for the move. Press Release - 3 Sep 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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