MSF worldwide work highlight (8/7-21/7)

As negotiations for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement moved to Malaysia, MSF urged negotiating countries to remove terms that could adversely affect access to affordable medicines by people from developing countries, choke off production of generic medicines, and constrain the ability of governments to pass laws in the interest of public health.

 

Three months after the coup, CAR is in the grip of humanitarian emergency but the international community looks on with indifference. MSF released the report “Central African Republic: Abandoned to its fate?” to illustrate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, including the mortality rates which went above the emergency threshold in several regions. MSF calls on the international and humanitarian community to continue their support to the fragile country.

 

In MSF’s report “The less visible wounds: Mental health, violence and conflict in southern Colombia”, which is based on the testimonies of more than 4,400 patients treated in MSF’s mental health programmes, 67% of the patients had experienced one or more violence-related events and had daily exposure to various risk factors associated directly and indirectly with the conflicts. They had a higher tendency to suffer depression, anxiety or post-traumatic disorders than others.

 

MSF calls on the Colombian government to continue improving and broadening the implementation of psychosocial care, pledging to eliminate any barriers to mental health services for those who continue to suffer the consequences of violence in the country.

 

MSF confirmed that Montserrat SERRA and Blanca THIEBAUT, who were abducted from the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya in October 2011, have been released, both safe and healthy. They have already returned home.

 

In Maputo, MSF is working with the Ministry of Health to treat patients suffering from Kaposi’s sarcoma, a type of cancer that causes painful and disfiguring lesions on the skin that is linked to HIV. MSF’s facility there has a chemotherapy unit that provides the treatment. 

 

Escalating intercommunal clashes have led to heavy casualties in Jonglei state. MSF, with the support of the Ministry of Health, is currently treating 176 wounded, including 128 gunshot wounds. Another MSF emergency team is attempting to reach the tens of thousands of people hiding in the swamps without access to safe drinking water, food or medical care.

In Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, more than 20,000 people are almost cut off from aid after fleeing violence in the disputed border region with Sudan. MSF has launched an emergency response by setting up mobile clinics and a basic healthcare clinic for children and pregnant women, and training community-based healthcare workers to help combat diarrhea, malaria and malnutrition.

 

MSF teams treated 34 wounded after fighting over the control of gold mines in North Darfur state. Since early February, MSF teams, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, have treated 155 wounded people due to violence in the region.