East Aleppo: “It has taken four years and 20 surgical operations to repair the damage”

Name : Designation : East Aleppo’s besieged residents have been told to leave their homes or face annihilation. As they brace themselves for what comes next, Amal Abdullah recalls the day four years ago that she was told to leave the east Aleppo neighbourhood where she grew u It was mid-July 2012 when the authorities … Read more

India: Renewed hope with new drugs

Two new drugs, bedaquiline and delamanid, are proving to be the very last lifeline for tuberculosis (TB) patients with the most extreme forms of drug resistance. While a few patients benefit from these new drugs in India, many die before being able to access them as they are not widely available. Nischaya, eighteen years old, receives the … Read more

Going the extra mile

Name : Designation : What does it take to deliver healthcare to a neglected population in a remote region? Dr Ram Kovelamudi, working with MSF in Bhadrachalam, Telangana, explains. I have worked as a doctor in different settings before. But I always felt something was missing. The patients I was treating would always have other … Read more

Tajikistan: Helping children fight TB

Name : Designation : Ruchi Brahmachari, a clinical psychologist from Mumbai, looks back on her time in Dushanbe, Tajikistan Initially, I was a little apprehensive. I have worked as a clinical psychologist before, but never with people living with tuberculosis (TB). Tajikistan is one of 27 high multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB, or TB that is resistant … Read more

Jordan: Covering the health needs of refugees

Name : Designation : Australian Nurse Nicole Campbell has recently returned from her second field assignment with Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Jordan. She talks about her experiences in MSF’s maternity hospital in Irbid, where she spent three mo Tell us about MSF’s project in Irbid The Irbid project in Jordan … Read more

Papua New Guinea: Hope For Hape

Name : Designation : Dr Bhavna Chawla, a surgeon with MSF, recently returned from Papua New Guinea, where MSF provides medical care for victims of domestic, tribal and sexual violence. Here she recalls the remarkable story of one of her patients, who came back from the brink. “Ooh, you are going to Papua New Guinea … Read more

Conversion Disorder- When psychological distress translates into physical symptoms

Name : Designation : As narrated by a MSF clinical psychologist treating Shareefa. Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals. Shareefa was diagnosed with conversion disorder at the young age of 19. Upon referral from a psychiatrist, she was brought to one of the MSF clinics in North … Read more

A young Palestinian woman, a Pakistani boy and an elderly Syrian man: I've met the people the EU has decided to no longer welcome and protect

Name : Designation : Dr. Conor Kenny, in collaboration with Ifigenia Anastasiadi and Elisa Compagnone, recounts the evacuation of Idomeni and his experience treating refugees and migrants in Greece following the EU-Turkey deal. The forcible removal of 8,000 people from Idomeni camp in the early hours of the 24th of May 2016 brought an end … Read more