Peru, which in recent days has revised up the number of deaths from COVID-19, currently has the highest COVID-19 mortality rate in the world. The revelation comes as the country experiences a major gap in its access to vaccines and is still struggling with overwhelmed intensive care units, even if the overall number of cases has declined … Read more
Hundreds of thousands of people have been left displaced, and over half a million in the city of Goma have been left without access to clean drinking water, following the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). While teams from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are responding, other humanitarian organisations should urgently step in … Read more
“The situation here was very difficult: the community in Dilli village had no access to healthcare for several years” says Mohamed Abdallah Juma, a community leader from Dilli, located in the mountainous Jebel Marra area of Sudan’s Darfur region. A rocky journey to access medical facilities Darfur has suffered decades of conflict and, while much has … Read more
Between 10 and 21 May, Israeli airstrikes and shelling killed more than 250 people and left close to 2,000 injured in the coastal enclave of the Gaza Strip, Palestine. In the space of just 11 days, many Gazans saw their homes and their livelihoods destroyed, and suffered long-lasting physical and psychological injuries. In Israel, rockets and other projectiles … Read more
Since the end of March, MSF teams have been responding to one of the worst food and nutrition crises ever experienced in southern Madagascar. Prior to deploying medical personnel, an exploratory team was sent to Amboasary district to conduct logistical and health assessments – actions essential to the rollout of an effective humanitarian response. One … Read more
The year 2020 was extremely challenging for people all over the world, as they experienced extraordinary levels of disease, loss, fear and isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. In many countries where Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) works – and some in which we normally don’t – the pandemic exacerbated existing … Read more
On Sunday 16 May, Israeli airstrikes in the area of the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) clinic in Gaza city, Palestine, killed at least 42 people, including 10 children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The bombing in the area also damaged our clinic, leaving a sterilisation room unusable and a waiting area … Read more
On 12 May 2020, the maternity ward of the Dasht-e-Barchi hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, was attacked. Twenty-four people were killed according to official sources. On 15 June, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)/Doctors Without Borders announced the decision to withdraw from the hospital. In parallel, we carried out an internal fact-finding exercise. Dr Isabelle Defourny, MSF director of operations, explains … Read more
By Aparna Iyer, Project Medical Referent, MSF Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Project in Mumbai MSF’s drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) and HIV project is located in the M-East Ward, one of the TB high-burden areas in Mumbai. During the second wave, there was a high number of COVID-19 cases being reported, about 6,000-7,000 cases a day which forced authorities … Read more
The second wave of COVID-19 in India has been devastating, with a catastrophic rise in the numbers of new infections in recent weeks. The country has now recorded over 18.7 million cases and over 208,000 deaths [1]. The outbreak of the new coronavirus is overwhelming for all healthcare providers. The situation is dire, with a lack … Read more