Medical Care

Danaher continues to charge exorbitant prices for lifesaving medical tests despite urgent demands for price reductions by several Ministries of Health

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Geneva, 17 June 2024 – In September 2023, the US corporation Danaher, which owns diagnostics maker Cepheid, announced a price reduction of the primary GeneXpert test used to diagnose tuberculosis (TB), from US$9.98 to $7.97, amid pressure from TB activists. Since then, officials from the Ministries of Health of Sierra Leone, Ghana, Ukraine, Belarus and … Read more

Lack of hepatitis C care means most Rohingya refugees cannot be cured amid alarming prevalence rates in camps in Bangladesh

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A study carried out by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) indicates that almost 20 per cent of the Rohingya refugees tested in the Cox’s Bazar camps in Bangladesh have an active hepatitis C infection. A blood-borne virus, hepatitis C is a disease that can remain dormant for a long time in those infected. If untreated, it … Read more

Afghanistan: Patients’ stories from MSF-supported Mazar-i-Sharif Regional Hospital in the Balkh Province

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Public healthcare facilities, especially tertiary hospitals, such as the MSF-supported Mazar-i-Sharif Regional Hospital in the Balkh province, are struggling to cover essential running costs like staff salaries, medicines and medical supplies, fuel, and oxygen supply, due to the lack of long-term structural support for the health sector in Afghanistan. Mazar Regional Referral Hospital is the … 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

Survivors of sexual violence in the Darién Gap receive comprehensive care in Costa Rica

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Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), together with our local partner Cadena and in coordination with health authorities, expanded access to medical and psychological care services at facilities in the Southern Migration Station in Costa Rica. Every day, hundreds of migrants arrive in Costa Rica after crossing the Darién Gap, a jungle that … Read more

South Sudan: health workers bring lifeline to remote areas

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Amid insecurity, semi-nomadic populations, just like the rest of South Sudan, suffer from climate change, causing both increased flooding and more severe droughts. In the latest years, water and food has been scarce, and cattle keepers and farmers had to move farther from functional healthcare facilities, worsening their access to medical care. In remote areas, … Read more

Mali: increased surgical needs among women and children in Niono

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In December 2023, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) began providing surgical activities at the Niono hospital in central Mali. MSF teams have now renovated the department, as well as providing additional resources to cater to the needs. People living in Niono and the surrounding area suffer the effects of armed conflict, with limited access to quality … Read more

South Sudan: Communities prepare for renewed flooding ahead of rainy season

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In a parched landscape, an MSF tractor roars as it approaches a small village in Dentiuk, in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state. It is towing a trailer to which a creaking wooden canoe is strapped. “Are you sure we are in the right place?” asks the driver.  It might not look like it, but when … Read more

DRC: Emergency response against cholera in the territory of Rutshuru

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Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) / Doctors Without Borders teams have been mobilised urgently in the territory of Rutshuru, in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in response to an outbreak of suspected cases of cholera, particularly in the Binza and Rutshuru health zones. More than 1,500 patients have been treated since the beginning … Read more

Sudan: Over 1,000 wounded people treated at MSF-supported hospital during almost three months of fighting in El Fasher

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Since the start of the fighting in Sudan, MSF and Ministry of Health staff have treated over 1,000 war wounded patients at the hospital MSF supports in North Darfur. Here, Mohammed Alfa-qeeh – our project coordinator in El Fasher – describes the current situation in the city, detailing not only how people’s lives have been … Read more