As COVID-19 cases surge in Kyrgyzstan, especially in the capital Bishkek, rural and remote regions are bracing themselves for the virus by scaling up preventive measures, while simultaneously striving to guarantee essential medical care, especially for women and children. Despite the country’s strong health system, maintaining quality services outside big cities has suffered in recent years, as a … Read more
Four months after COVID-19 was officially declared an international pandemic, the disease has made its way into northwest Syria, with a first case confirmed on 9 July. Since then, 18 more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the area. More than half of the positive cases so far are healthcare workers who were working in the few remaining … Read more
COVID-19-related lockdown measures have had an impact on the lives of everyone around the world and generated increasing levels of stress and anxiety for many of us. However, the restriction of movement imposed in places like Moria and Vathy, on the Greek islands, have proven to be toxic for the thousands of people contained there. … Read more
A diagnosis of cancer is a life-changing event. In Ennerti Williams’ case, cervical cancer changed things in many ways: it affected not only her health, but also her ability to work and her family life in ways she could never have imagined. “First, because of the sickness, I had to stop working – I was in … Read more
In Brazil, between 15,000 and 30,000 Brazilians are infected with COVID-19 daily, and hundreds of people are dying. The country has more than 43,000 deaths and nearly 870,000 cases. The pandemic’s waves in the country have moved from rich to poor, and from the coastal cities to the interior, threatening the most vulnerable and neglected – residents of slums … Read more
New outbreak declared in Equateur province On 1 June 2020, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared its eleventh Ebola outbreak since records began, following the revelation of new cases of Ebola in Equateur province, northwestern DRC. Less than two years since the last outbreak of the disease ended in Equateur province – and while the country is … Read more
Op-ed by Abdallah Hussein, MSF head of mission in Burkina Faso While COVID-19 makes headlines around the world, less visible humanitarian crises continue to deteriorate. In the villages of Burkina Faso’s eastern region, killings, abductions and looting are now a regular occurrence. This is one of the areas most affected by the armed conflict between Burkino Faso’s national security … Read more
A car drove up to the low, white building that is the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) COVID-19 treatment centre in Aden, southwestern Yemen. In it was a man aged around 60 who was coughing and struggling for breath. He managed to heave himself into a wheelchair and then the team took him down to the … Read more
In the three weeks since a vicious attack on the Médecins Sans Frontiéres (MSF)-run maternity wing at Dasht-e-Barchi hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, assessments have revealed that 15 mothers were killed in the hospital. Five of these women were in labour and were minutes, or at most hours, from giving birth to their babies. An MSF midwife, Maryam Noorzad, … Read more
To fight the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) will soon launch its response to coronavirus in Patna, Bihar. The teams are working to set up a 100-bed COVID-19 treatment facility in the indoor stadium of Patliputra Sports Complex, Patna with the purpose of treating cases of COVID-19. The intervention aims to … Read more