MSF Issues Review of Emergency Response and Current Gaps in Medical Care, Shelter, Water and Sanitation, and Secondary Health Care Challenges. One year after a devastating earthquake killed an estimated 222,000 people and left 1.5 million people homeless, Haitians continue to endure appalling...
Dusty, thin tents and shelters made of tree branches stretch off into the distance in the vast, unplanted fields of Raziq Binu village, Sindh Province. Outside these makeshift shelters, children play with pieces of wood and trash. The onset of winter means that temperatures will continue to drop as...
Why have at least 2,500 people died of cholera when there are about 12,000 NGOs in the country? The article was first published in The Guardian’s “Comment is Free” section By Dr. Unni Karunakara Haiti should be an unlikely backdrop for the latest failure of the humanitarian relief system. The...
The international emergency medical humanitarian organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has provided specialized care to 33 women raped on New Year’s Day in Fizi, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. The women were raped on the night of 1 January in Fizi town and surroundings in a...
It is a cruel irony for the people of Southern Sudan that the whole world is now fully focused on the potential fallout of this weekend’s referendum on secession from the North, while the ongoing emergencies facing the region since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) six years...
Dosso, Niger It is almost midday. The air is dry and rasping. By the side of the road, sheltering under some branches, five women patiently await the arrival of the last people to vaccinate. We are in Tourobon, a village in the Dosso district, and it is the last day of the vaccination campaign...
While the whole world is interested in South Sudan’s political situation ahead of the referendum on self-determination, the region is in the midst of a humanitarian and medical crisis. More than 75% of the population does not have access to basic health care. Upon his return from Abyei and Agok,...
Since 2006, ,MSF has been providing much needed primary healthcare in the troubled Abyei region. Intervening in this tense area has become more and more difficult. But needs remain huge. In south Sudan, maternal and child mortality are among the highest rate in the world. Here is the story of one...
Among the US government diplomatic cables recently published by the Wikileaks website were details of a meeting between an official from the pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, and US Embassy officials in Nigeria in April 2009. At the time of the meeting, Pfizer was in the midst of a legal battle with...
In 2010, southern Sudan battled to contain its biggest kala azar outbreak in eight years, highlighting the urgent need for newer better tools to treat neglected tropical diseases in developing countries. Kala azar, or visceral leishmaniasis, is contracted through the bite of a parasite-carrying...
