Thousands of people who fled violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) are now in Sido, southern Chad. They need emergency aid. “The World Food Programme and the Chadian authorities must distribute food immediately to these destitute populations,” says Sarah Chateau, head of mission for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Chad. Paris, N’Djamena, … Read more
Project Coordinator Sarah Maynard describes the devastation she encountered upon returning to MSF’s hospital in Leer “We landed in Leer and walked from the airstrip up to the hospital. There was no one else around. Normally there are dozens of local boys playing football under the big trees by the hospital, mothers getting water from … Read more
MSF launched a measles vaccination campaign on 8 February in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, following the January 14 official declaration of an epidemic. MSF plans to vaccinate close to 500,000 children between the ages of 6 months to 10 years over a two-week period. ‘It is taking lives’ Halimatou Touré has been at the … Read more
As violence continues to spread throughout the northwest of Central African Republic (CAR), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have opened a new project in Bouar, a town which has been severely impacted by the conflict and its consequences. Today, around 6000 people remain trapped and unable to flee. For the last month, MSF has been … Read more
Since June 2012, MSF has been treating prisoners and ex prisoners with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Paola Mermati, MSF’s Field Coordinator in Donetsk, talks about the challenges of treating such patients successfully. How are these patients different from others? The rate of TB here in the Donetsk region is ten … Read more
Since February 1, nearly 1,000 people, most of them Muslim, have been trapped, surrounded, and threatened by armed militias known as anti-balakas in Carnot, southwestern Central African Republic (CAR). Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been working in Carnot since 2010 and has been a direct witness to the violence and abuses against the … Read more
Since early December 2013, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has provided medical care to more than 1,000 patients wounded by violence in and around Central African Republic (CAR)’s Bangui airport, where approximately 100,000 displaced people have taken refuge from a wave of fighting that has swept across the country. In the past week alone, … Read more
Three months after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines, affecting 16 million people, emergency teams from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) report that although the relief effort is well underway, the recovery will take a lot longer. “The waste which filled the streets directly after the typhoon is now nearly all cleared away,” says Foura … Read more
Following several episodes of fatal inter-communal violence in the Central African Republic capital of Bangui last week, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical teams treated more than 200 people at Community Hospital and at the Castor Health Center; 90 of the patients required life-saving surgeries. “We see a large number of cases every day,” … Read more
By: Arjan Hehenkamp, MSF General Director When I left South Sudan ten years ago, having worked here for four, I left feeling hopeful. A ceasefire had been signed and a peace-agreement was under discussion. A few years later South Sudan became an independent country, a master of its destiny. I was not so naïve to … Read more