MSF worldwide work highlight (29/4 – 12/5)

 

MSF issued a report Healing Iraqis: The Challenges of Providing Mental Health Care in Iraq, recording examples of the impact constant day to day violence have had on the Iraqis. It said there is an urgent need to scale up mental health care services in the country, and called on the Ministry of Health to improve the quality and access to mental health services.

 

Since April 7, Yemeni authorities have released 1,620 migrants who were held by smugglers in Haradh region, in the north of the country. Some of them were victims of torture. MSF assisted them by providing treatment to life-threatening diseases like pneumonia, complicated malaria or dengue, as well as mental health assistance and supplementary food rations.

 

In the south of Ethiopia, MSF has established two mothers’ waiting houses in the mountainous area of Aroressa. These houses shelter pregnant women who come from distant villages, cannot access medical assistance quickly, or experiencing complications during their pregnancy. MSF also cooperates with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health to provide antenatal and postnatal services, family planning and medical and psychological assistance to victims of sexual violence.

 

The conflict in Syria is extremely intense, with an estimated 6.8 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and a collapsed health system. MSF now has four hospitals, increasing mobile clinic activities, and is actively seeking to open new projects where it is safe to do so. MSF is also carrying out medical consultations and distributing relief items to refugees in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. So far over 100,000 consultations have been provided for Syrian refugees.

 

Following the fighting in North Kivu Province town of Pinga in late April, the situation remained tense and unpredictable. People continue to flee, only half of the population remaining in town. Eleven Congolese MSF staff had been missing since the violence began but later all were accounted for. Despite insecurity challenges, MSF continues to carry out its vital medical work.

 

In northern DRC, MSF’s mobile sleeping sickness team is working against the odds to test 40,000 people in villages deep in rainforest near the town of Bili. People diagnosed with the disease will be referred to the hospital in Bili. However, better diagnostic tools and treatments that are easy to use in the remote locations and dependable funding for national programmes are still needed to eliminate the disease.