When Zahra brought her children, Kholah and Saher, to our Abs hospital in Yemen, they were suffering from dehydration and malnutrition.
Life in her village is hard, Zahra explains, with many supplies lacking: “It’s even hard to get them the milk they need. I spend many days looking for milk, worried and anxious.”
The ongoing civil war in Yemen has left the health system in shambles, and now many in rural areas are without access to medical care. With services disrupted, in recent months the country now faces a severe cholera outbreak that is affecting thousands. While successful treatment does exist—serious cases can improve within four days with rehydration therapy—without a reliable health infrastructure, many are in danger of falling ill beyond the reach of clean water and proper care.
Without clean water, deadly diseases spread rapidly, especially in refugee camps.
Team Leader Craig and Nurse Jacob break down how MSF’s huge water treatment plant in Palorinya works and why it’s vital to the health of thousands of refugees who have fled South Sudan to live in Uganda.
In 1997, MSF began its mission in Kibera, Kenya to address the HIV epidemic. At the time, while treatment was available in countries like the United States, in Kenya it was still not available due to the high price of drugs.
Charles remembers how ill he was before seeking treatment
through MSF: “I was dying,
hopeless, and afraid of what my family would do if they found out. I went to
live with a friend but didn’t tell him about my status. We used to share a bed
and I slept in it when he went to work. One time he said to me ‘Charles - does
your body shed scales? What sickness are you suffering from?’ I thought that it
was his way of saying, ‘Please, I’m tired of you - go and get your own house.’ ” After two decades of work, MSF is handing over the project to the Kenyan
government this year. You can learn more about the stories from our 20 years in
Kibera: http://www.msf.org/kenya/kibera
Instagram post by @doctorswithoutborders
“I want people to know that refugees are artists, athletes, dancers, doctors, philosophers — human beings with ambitions and dreams as simple as finding a place to live, absent of danger and fear. I tell my story on behalf of those whose stories are untold – because I am one of the lucky ones.” - Doc Ahmed - physician, Forced From Home tour guide, and refugee
Stand with refugees on #WorldRefugeeDay- We call for greater international efforts to protect people fleeing for their lives from war or persecution.
To the fighters, the protectors, the dreamers,
MOMS that undertake long journeys and brave horrifying conditions in the hopes of saving their babies.
On board rescue ships, in bombed-out hospitals, in day long roadside labors, in sweltering heat and numbing cold,
we witness the depths of courage in the women we help.
We rejoice in the naming of a new little loved one.
Moms around the world, we salute you. Happy Mother’s Day
ForcedFromHome on Twitter
Rebuilding lives shattered by war: testimonies from our patients and staff
For those wounded by fierce fighting in Mosul, Iraq, emergency trauma surgery is the beginning, rather than the end, of a long journey to recovery. As such, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs a 40-bed hospital in Hamdaniya, a town south of Mosul, to specifically cater to the needs of those recovering from surgery and attempting to rebuild their lives.
Abdulrahman, 11-year-old patient from western Mosul
“I was going to a food distribution when something exploded in the street next to me. I was hit in the chest and arm by shrapnel.”
Faten, five-year-old patient from western Mosul
Told by her father:
“When our neighborhood in western Mosul was retaken by the Iraqi army, we went back to our house. Faten was playing in the garden when a mortar bomb fell in the garden and exploded.
Now she is here in the post-operative ward in Hamdaniya Hospital. Every day the staff here clean her wounds and put new bandages on. Faten is a brave girl; she likes to play and laugh, but she misses her brothers and sisters at home and at night she cries.”
https://medium.com/@MSF_USA/the-beautiful-faces-of-mosul-7562d4dfcdb9
Instagram post by @forcedfromhome •
“This story should be about the local MSF staff on the ground. They are the ones who face most of the dangers in their profession. My job here is to train them, to make sure they know how to diagnose and treat patients. They are the ones who stay behind when we leave.” - Dr. Philippa Pett
Three-year-old Billy was brought to the Doctors Without Borders health post inside Nyarugusu refugee camp - she developed a fever and started vomiting. Her symptoms are typical of malaria: headache, joint pain, vomiting, and other flu like symptoms. MSF Nurse assistant Saidi tested Billy for the disease (a small pin-prick to her finger to get a blood sample, which is tested immediately, on-site, to see if the malaria parasites are present).
This kind of testing is the most reliable way of diagnosing malaria in the camp’s remote and basic environment: little training is needed in order to administer the test; no additional lab equipment is required; and the results are fast to interpret.
Young children are the most vulnerable to malaria - their bodies haven’t built up effective defense against the disease and they do not have fully developed immune systems.
After her consultation, Billy is given her anti-malarial tablets and some water to take her first dose. MSF uses artemisinin-based combination therapy, which is the most effective malaria treatment.
Tent to tent across the refugee camp, health promoters explain to refugees how to prevent malaria, how to recognize the symptoms, and how to seek treatment.
In 2016, MSF treated 46,380 refugees in Nyarugusu for malaria.
Launched today! Find out if you hold investments in Pfizer or GSK and use that power to help us lower the price of the pneumonia vaccine. Not an investor? You can still spread the word! #AskPharma http://afairshot.org
Just over half of the people arriving in Europe are young men
This is mainly because their families judge they are better able to face such a tough journey. Sometimes they hope to join them later.
Nonetheless, the number of families, women and unaccompanied children is high. According to the UNHCR, 43 percent – nearly half – of people arriving in 2016 were women and children.
But whatever their age or gender, most of the people who make it to Europe are extremely vulnerable: victims of violence and torture, people with disabilities, pregnant women, children and even babies, all of whom are leaving behind conflict, persecution or extreme poverty.
Did you think tuberculosis was a disease of the past? It still claims 1.8 million lives every year.
That’s more than any other infectious disease.
Patients have to take large numbers of pills, and face daily injections, for up to two years.
Side effects can include: Permanent deafness, nausea and vomiting, blindness and psychosis
Five years ago, two new TB medicines were introduced.
They have far fewer side effects, and are much more powerful.
However most patients are denied access to the new medicines and are stuck with the old medicines.
This needs to change.
It’s #WorldWaterDay - Follow the journey of a Water Sanitation Specialist
The River
The city of Am Timan has a population of 70,000 with an estimate of 8 people per household. As part of our Hep E emergency response, our vision is to ensure that all 8,750 households have adequate (chlorinated) drinking water.
The river is used for bathing, washing, drinking and playing!
Holes are dug on the river’s edge to collect drinking water.
Open defecation is a huge problem as most communities lack basic latrines. (Hepatitis E is contracted via fecal matter).
Public well with a hand pump.
Buckets, containers and jerry-cans are plunged into open-air pools to collect water.
The plan is to have 2 chlorinators working 6 hour shifts to makeup 12 hour days at each of the 120 water points around the city. We are also going to have a hygiene promoter at each water point to promote the importance of good hygiene. To map the 120 water points in Am Timan, we sent two teams to the field to collect their respective GPS locations.
I’m Alex and I’m an Engineer from Canada on my first mission with MSF. I have a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and have spent the last few years working in the Oil & Gas Industry. As a Water and Sanitation Specialist, I am helping plan, implement and monitor the water, hygiene and sanitation activities of the Hepatitis E Virus outbreak response project in Am Timan, Chad.
Meet Sarmad, 23, from Iraq.
Sarmad left his country because of the security situation. He lived in Turkey for a short time but decided to try and reach Europe.
He has lived inside Moria camp for the past eight months and he works as a barber to collect some money to live.
“… I am not talking only about myself, I am talking about all the refugees. Their life is difficult here, you can see, we live in tents. There have been problems here, some people died because of fire…we have had enough of war and of destruction, of explosions and killings every day, and of the houses collapsing on our heads. And we have come straight into psychological warfare.
Maybe we should come back to our country, then? That’s it, maybe if we are going to die, we should die in our country.”
Six years of war in Syria have changed the lives of millions. Some medical services have moved underground. MSF has adapted to these brutal realities to provide care under the threat of attack.
- Page 2 of 202
- Next »
- « Previous