humanitarian assistance

Urgent call for Europe to improve treatment access for tuberculosis: Many TB medicines and formulations accessible in lower- and middle-income countries remain unaffordable or unavailable in Europe

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Berlin, 6 June 2024: As the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded a meeting with European health officials and civil society to improve access to tuberculosis (TB) medicines in the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA), Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), along with TB activists, urge European countries to maintain this momentum by taking immediate … Read more

Marking 40 years of humanitarian medical action in Mozambique: Médecins Sans Frontières hosts panel discussion in Maputo

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Maputo, Mozambique – Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) will tomorrow host a panel discussion to reflect on its medical and humanitarian work for the past 40 years in Mozambique and discuss its challenges. Since 1984, MSF has been collaborating with local authorities and communities in Mozambique to respond to emergencies, delivering life-saving medical assistance … Read more

Need knows no difference between refugees and Sudanese host communities: This is Um Rakuba

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Imagine the scene: a busy refugee camp in El Gedaref state, on the edge of eastern Sudan, close to the Ethiopian border. This is Um Rakuba, where people in desperate need of medical care wait patiently for their turn at the camp’s hospital. The camp was established in November 2020, following the influx of thousands … Read more

Tapping into solar energy to power emergency response: MSF logisticians are testing ways to supply energy for medical activities in places with unreliable electricity

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Emergency medical response often relies on electricity, yet this crucial resource can be difficult to access in insecure settings. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have been trying to find sustainable solutions to this obstacle. In places where there is no electricity, humanitarian organizations like MSF typically rely on diesel-run generators, but it can be … Read more

MSF responds to the outcomes of PPR negotiations at WHA77

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Geneva, 4 June 2024 – In concluding the 77th World Health Assembly, World Health Organization (WHO) member states adopted a set of historic amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR), which establishes the definition of a ‘pandemic emergency’; includes several provisions addressing global inequity in access to health products during public health emergencies of international … Read more

Record Admissions of Severely Malnourished Children Overwhelm MSF Medical Facilities in Northern Nigeria

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Abuja, 4 June 2024: In recent weeks, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) inpatient facilities in northern Nigeria have recorded an extraordinary increase in admissions of severely malnourished children with life-threatening complications, with two times more admissions than last year in some locations. This is horrifying as the high influx of patients, and the increase in acute … Read more

Gavi’s next strategy must make sure to reach the 10 million children in fragile and humanitarian settings who are missing vaccines

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Where are we now? This week, on 6-7 June 2024, the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is meeting in Geneva to approve and endorse the one-page framework for Gavi 6.0, which outlines its strategy for the five-year period from 2026-2030. Gavi, which is funded by public and private donors, was set up nearly 25 … Read more

GAZA: New crossing points and ‘floating dock’ are cosmetic changes, as humanitarian access disintegrates in Gaza, warn aid agencies

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Jerusalem, 28 May 2024 – As Israeli attacks intensify on Rafah, the unpredictable trickle of aid into Gaza has created a mirage of improved access while the humanitarian response is in reality on the verge of collapse, warn 20 aid agencies. The latest Israeli attacks on a displacement camp near UN aid facilities in Rafah reportedly … Read more

“We have lost everything, but I am very strong”: MSF works in shelter with vulnerable victims of disastrous floods in the south of Brazil

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A boy named Joaquim runs restlessly among toys spread on the classroom’s floor. There are colorful posters displayed on the walls, but it’s not a class day, and Joaquim is not a student here, either. Desks in this classroom in the city of Canoas, in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, are piled … Read more

New Bill Proposed by Israel’s Parliament Threatens to Obstruct Humanitarian Aid in Gaza

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On 29 May, a bill aimed at designating UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, as a terrorist organisation passed a preliminary reading prior to three further readings in Israel’s Parliament, known as the Knesset. A second bill that would lead to the severing of all ties … Read more