Project updates

Overcoming neglect: Finding ways to manage and control NTDs

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The report, Overcoming Neglect, details Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) involvement with neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) over the last three decades. Our work includes treating patients, carrying out operational research, supporting efforts to identify new treatments and diagnostics; and playing an active role in reducing their incidence. We call for an improved global response to NTDs, … Read more

Bangladesh: Relocations, reduced services leave Rohingya communities at breaking point in Bangladesh

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Faruk* is a Rohingya refugee – one of nearly a million – living in a camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. “No one wants to be a refugee; the life we have here is not easy. We live in an open prison,” Faruk says. “Life for a refugee is hellish and every day is the same. I can’t … Read more

Yemen: “These sanctions have to make clear that they do not apply to humanitarian aid”

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The United States government has moved to designate Ansar Allah, the Yemeni group that controls Sana’a, the largest city in Yemen, and much of the country, as a “foreign terrorist organisation”. This means that sanctions will be applied to stop people and companies working with them or the institutions they control. Marc Schakal, MSF’s programme manager for Yemen, … Read more

Ethiopia: Providing assistance to people in Ethiopia and Sudan in wake of Tigray violence

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Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia after fighting broke out in early November 2020, according to OCHA [1]. Some 50,000 people have crossed into Sudan as refugees, while many others are displaced within the region, staying in towns, remote areas or trapped between localised … Read more

Lebanon: Overlapping crises in Lebanon increase needs and worsen access to care

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Since late 2019, Lebanon has been grappling with its worst economic crisis in decades, social unrest and political turmoil. On top of that, and following the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic at the start of 2020, a major explosion tore through the capital, Beirut, in August. These overlapping crises have exacerbated people’s vulnerability and pushed thousands into poverty. All this … Read more

Palestine: “For one year no one came here” to provide medical care in the West Bank

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Approximately 300,000 Palestinians that live in small dispersed communities in the West Bank, Palestine, face barriers to accessing healthcare. This is because more than half of the West Bank is under an ‘Area C’ designation, meaning it is under direct Israeli civil and military control. More than one-third of people living under Area C-designated zones depend … Read more

Central African Republic: MSF provides care in post-election attacks in Bangassou

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On Sunday 3 January, the coalition of non-state armed groups attacked and took control of Bangassou, a town in the southeast of the Central African Republic (CAR), on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). During the day, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams transported and urgently treated 12 wounded at the Bangassou Regional … Read more

Afghanistan: Patients face persistent insecurity amid “peace process”

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The year 2020 has been considered a historic one for Afghanistan. In February, 20 years since the US-led invasion, the US signed a deal with the Islamic Emirate – otherwise known as the Taliban – to pave the way for a conditions-based withdrawal of US troops. In September, intra-Afghan talks between the Taliban and the Afghan … Read more

Nigeria: Extra-long malaria season in Borno claims lives

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Nigeria has some of the highest number of deaths from malaria worldwide. Usually, peak malaria season takes place during the rainy season from August to mid-October, when mosquitoes breed, after which patient numbers begin to decrease. This year, however, medical teams from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) working in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state have witnessed a spike … Read more