Dr Claudia Lodesani, MSF president and emergency coordinator for COVID-19 in Italy, explains how our teams can assist her country’s well-developed health system to deal with the new challenge of a pandemic. What can MSF do to help during this COVID-19 crisis? Before, the health services, here in Italy, as in most European countries, were focused on … Read more
MSF medical teams have joined the fight against COVID-19 as the new coronavirus disease spreads to more than 200 countries. Project coordinator Dr Chiara Lepora is overseeing our response in Lodi province, north Italy, where we are supporting three hospitals, as well as aged care facilities in central Italy. She shares her experience working alongside Italian doctors and nurses on the … Read more
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has expanded activities in response to COVID-19 in Italy, Spain, Switzerland, France, Norway, Greece and Belgium. Our teams are supporting nursing homes for the elderly, assisting other vulnerable people, such as the homeless and migrants, and providing technical support and training. Describing our COVID-19 response in Europe, Dr Christos … Read more
GENEVA/NEW YORK — Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has called for no patents or profiteering on drugs, tests, or vaccines used for the COVID-19 pandemic, and for governments to prepare to suspend and override patents and take other measures, such as price controls, to ensure availability, reduce prices and save more lives. Already, Canada, … Read more
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is stepping up our response to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic by starting medical, logistical and strategic support activities in Spain. We will be leveraging our experience and expertise in managing epidemics in fragile contexts, in working in the country. According to the latest official figures, the situation in Spain is very … Read more
As the world grapples with the coronavirus COVID-19 global pandemic, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is concerned for vulnerable groups worldwide. People with tuberculosis (TB) are among the groups that may be particularly affected. Special attention will be needed to safeguard the continuity of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care for people with TB worldwide. TB is the world’s … Read more
Op-ed by Jonathan Whittall, Head of humanitarian analysis How are you supposed to wash your hands regularly if you have no running water or soap? How can you implement ‘social distancing’ if you live in a slum or a refugee camp? How are you supposed to stop crossing borders if you are fleeing from war? … Read more
Open Letter by Dr Christos Christou, International President, Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières The following is a letter by MSF International President Dr Christos Christou addressed to all MSF staff and supporters. Dear colleagues, and friends and supporters of MSF As a medical humanitarian organisation with projects and teams around the world, we … Read more
PARIS – Faced with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the French health system is strengthening its capacity to prevent and treat cases. This week, in consultation with France’s health authorities, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is setting up activities to help detect and manage COVID-19 cases among the most vulnerable populations in Paris and the surrounding … Read more
The COVID-19 pandemic has already spread to more than 100 countries around the world. These include countries whose health systems are fragile and where MSF teams have a long-standing presence, as well as regions such as Europe, where the capacities are more robust but where the epidemic is particularly virulent. Travel restrictions generated by the outbreak also … Read more