Posts tagged Middle East

Photo: Left to Right: Faces from MSF’s Amman project: Ali Abdel al-Kharim, a 13-year-old Iraqi from Baghdad, was severely burned on his face, arms, and legs when a car bomb exploded as he walked to school; Khanda Faraj Mohammed, 27, from Kirkuk, sustained severe burns on her neck, chest, stomach, arms, and hands when a car bomb exploded at the market where she shopped; Waleed Azziz Mohammed, 26, from Dahouk, was badly burned on his face and neck when he was hit by a rocket. Jordan 2011 © J.B. Russell Field Journal: A Regional Surgical Center Patricia Kahn, MSF-USA’s medical editor, recently visited MSF’s surgical program in Amman, Jordan, which treats patients from throughout the Middle East. Patients in the Amman program are civilians wounded by bombs, explosions, or gunshots in conflicts across the region. They have severe, complicated injuries that were not treated right away, or couldn’t be treated properly in their home country. Injuries such as bones that aren’t just broken, but shattered. Burns over much of the body. Many also have life-threatening bone infections, often with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Photo: Left to Right: Faces from MSF’s Amman project: Ali Abdel al-Kharim, a 13-year-old Iraqi from Baghdad, was severely burned on his face, arms, and legs when a car bomb exploded as he walked to school; Khanda Faraj Mohammed, 27, from Kirkuk, sustained severe burns on her neck, chest, stomach, arms, and hands when a car bomb exploded at the market where she shopped; Waleed Azziz Mohammed, 26, from Dahouk, was badly burned on his face and neck when he was hit by a rocket. Jordan 2011 © J.B. Russell


Field Journal: A Regional Surgical Center

Patricia Kahn, MSF-USA’s medical editor, recently visited MSF’s surgical program in Amman, Jordan, which treats patients from throughout the Middle East.

Patients in the Amman program are civilians wounded by bombs, explosions, or gunshots in conflicts across the region. They have severe, complicated injuries that were not treated right away, or couldn’t be treated properly in their home country. Injuries such as bones that aren’t just broken, but shattered. Burns over much of the body. Many also have life-threatening bone infections, often with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Syrian Refugees in Lebanon Living in Fear and Uncertainty While Lebanon has absorbed tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict in neighboring Syria in recent months, many people are living in overcrowded conditions, suffering psychological distress, are fearful for their safety, and are unable to afford medical care, said the international medical humanitarian organization MSF in a report released today. The MSF report, Fleeing the violence in Syria: Syrian Refugees in Lebanon, details the living conditions and health of the refugees and the major challenges facing them, including access to housing, food, water, sanitation, health care, and security. Most refugees are settling in economically disadvantaged regions of Lebanon, placing an additional burden on already overstretched resources. Gaps are appearing in refugees’ access to medical care, particularly hospital care and treatment for chronic diseases.Photo: An MSF family doctor examines a young Syrian patient. Lebanon 2012 © Nagham Awada/MSF

Syrian Refugees in Lebanon Living in Fear and Uncertainty

While Lebanon has absorbed tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict in neighboring Syria in recent months, many people are living in overcrowded conditions, suffering psychological distress, are fearful for their safety, and are unable to afford medical care, said the international medical humanitarian organization MSF in a report released today.

The MSF report, Fleeing the violence in Syria: Syrian Refugees in Lebanon, details the living conditions and health of the refugees and the major challenges facing them, including access to housing, food, water, sanitation, health care, and security. Most refugees are settling in economically disadvantaged regions of Lebanon, placing an additional burden on already overstretched resources. Gaps are appearing in refugees’ access to medical care, particularly hospital care and treatment for chronic diseases.

Photo: An MSF family doctor examines a young Syrian patient. Lebanon 2012 © Nagham Awada/MSF

The Photographer is a graphic novel documenting our clandestine cross-border operation in Afghanistan to assist those stranded without medical care in areas hardest-hit after the Soviet invasion in 1979. Find this and more books about our work here.

The Photographer is a graphic novel documenting our clandestine cross-border operation in Afghanistan to assist those stranded without medical care in areas hardest-hit after the Soviet invasion in 1979.


Find this and more books about our work here.

Then, injured people started coming from everywhere. We had to come up with other ways of accommodating people, even if it meant putting beds on the terrace. Sometimes the wounded didn’t arrive during the day because of fighting, because the roads were blocked, or because traveling to the hospital was risky. Sometimes they came at night or at dawn.
Surgical specialist Anna Nowak has completed more than 20 missions with MSF. She has just returned from Syria, where she helped to set up a refugee hospital project.

MSF has been working on the ground in Syria for the past two months, trying to provide humanitarian assistance to people affected by the conflict. With the help of a group of Syrian doctors, in six days a team was able to transform an empty house into an emergency hospital where wounded people could be operated on and hospitalized.

"Medical Outreach in Jordan Tends to Its Neighbors’ Wounded"

Read this report from the New York Times on Doctors Without Borders’ teams treating victims of Syria conflict in a Jordan hospital.

Learn more about the situation in Syria.

Interview with Doctors Without Borders surgeon Kathrine Holte, who spent a month operating in a secret field hospital in Syria.

Some came from far away, having traveled up to 150 kilometers [about 93 miles] to reach us. A good number arrived long after the initial injury had occurred rather than in the acute or semi-acute phase, [with] some arriving simply too late to be saved. Among them were patients who had not been able to have any post-operative care after their surgery, patients who received inadequate care and others who hadn’t received any medical care at all.
Kelly Dilworth, an MSF anesthetist who has worked for MSF for nine years, spent one month on mission in Syria. She recalls the pain of the wounded people she was treating and the severity of their injuries in a context where it’s difficult to get appropriate care in time.
Medical Needs Increasing Among Syrian Refugees in LebanonOn July 20 and July 21, there was a new surge as thousands of Syrians entered Lebanon. MSF teams were dispatched to the areas along the border and to the Bekaa valley, where many refugees are seeking sanctuary. As the crisis in Syria continues to intensify, the humanitarian needs—both in Syria and in surrounding countries—are increasing significantly. Many people have been killed and wounded and tens of thousands have fled their homes, leaving behind everything they own. Medical and humanitarian assistance within Syria is extremely limited, and aid from international organizations, including MSF, has been severely restricted. In neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, MSF has therefore augmented its work with the growing numbers of Syrian refugees flowing across the borders.Photo:An MSF nurse gives a vaccine to a young Syrian boy in northern Lebanon. Lebanon 2012 © Nagham Awada/MSF

Medical Needs Increasing Among Syrian Refugees in Lebanon

On July 20 and July 21, there was a new surge as thousands of Syrians entered Lebanon. MSF teams were dispatched to the areas along the border and to the Bekaa valley, where many refugees are seeking sanctuary.

As the crisis in Syria continues to intensify, the humanitarian needs—both in Syria and in surrounding countries—are increasing significantly. Many people have been killed and wounded and tens of thousands have fled their homes, leaving behind everything they own. Medical and humanitarian assistance within Syria is extremely limited, and aid from international organizations, including MSF, has been severely restricted. In neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, MSF has therefore augmented its work with the growing numbers of Syrian refugees flowing across the borders.

Photo:An MSF nurse gives a vaccine to a young Syrian boy in northern Lebanon.
Lebanon 2012 © Nagham Awada/MSF

CNN Video: Shelling Haunts Syrian Family See how our teams are providing crucial care to refugees from Syria through the story of one family struggling to survive after a shell slammed into their home.

CNN Video: Shelling Haunts Syrian Family

See how our teams are providing crucial care to refugees from Syria through the story of one family struggling to survive after a shell slammed into their home.

Evolving But Still Lethal Violence Plagues Yemen’s South On August 4, a suicide bomber attacked a funeral service taking place in the southern town of Jaar in Yemen’s Abyan province, killing over 40 people and injuring many more. Some 50 casualties were admitted to the Doctors Without Borders’ emergency surgical hospital in the town of Aden, where medical staff worked through the night to manage and treat the influx of patients. The following day, three people—two of them children—were admitted with severe blast injuries after coming into contact with unexploded devices in Jaar and Zinjibar. Read more on the situation in Yemen. Photo:A young patient at an MSF hospital in Yemen’s south, last May. Yemen 2012 © Saoussen Ben Cheikh/MSF

Evolving But Still Lethal Violence Plagues Yemen’s South

On August 4, a suicide bomber attacked a funeral service taking place in the southern town of Jaar in Yemen’s Abyan province, killing over 40 people and injuring many more. Some 50 casualties were admitted to the Doctors Without Borders’ emergency surgical hospital in the town of Aden, where medical staff worked through the night to manage and treat the influx of patients.

The following day, three people—two of them children—were admitted with severe blast injuries after coming into contact with unexploded devices in Jaar and Zinjibar.

Read more on the situation in Yemen.

Photo:A young patient at an MSF hospital in Yemen’s south, last May.

Yemen 2012 © Saoussen Ben Cheikh/MSF

Wounded Syrians Arrive in Jordan

A specialized Doctors Without Borders surgical team performs operations in a hospital in nearby Amman. Dr. Mohamed, a member of the team, came to Ramtha to determine whether any of the new arrivals were in need of orthopedic surgery. “The wounded people we see here have already received urgent care in Syria,” he says. “They usually have old wounds that date back several weeks or months.”

The refugee camps in Ramtha are more like transit camps, and Syrians generally do not stay very long. Dr. Mohamed visits Ramtha every few days. He gives his telephone number to the wounded patients he sees so that they can contact him when they reach Amman and arrange to be seen.

The wounded all have stories to tell. Twenty-five-year-old X*. lifts his polo shirt to show angry purple-red marks on his back. His arms were also lacerated when he was hit with rubber cables after being arrested while participating in a demonstration in Deraa. He says he was tortured in prison, where he remained for 17 days before he was transferred to Damascus. He was freed en route during an attack by the Free Syrian Army and immediately set out for Jordan.

*Names withheld to protect patient identity.

Afghanistan: Treating Child Malnutrition in Helmand “She was vomiting and had diarrhea, and she kept losing weight,” says Mariam of her five-month-old granddaughter Nazia. “Her mother just didn’t have enough milk to feed her. We went to a private clinic but they couldn’t help us, and finally we drove here from our home district of Sangin. Nazia is feeling a little better now.” Nazia, who still has a distended belly and a clearly visible rib cage, is one of the patients in the MSF herapeutic feeding center in Boost hospital in Lashkargah, the capital of Afghanistan’s Helmand province. Boost hospital, where MSF has been working since 2009, is one of only two hospitals in all of southern Afghanistan. Helmand is one of the country’s most war-ravaged provinces, and has seen intense fighting over the past decades. It is home to a largely poor, rural population, even if there are signs of a growing middle class in Lashkargah. MSF opened its feeding center in December 2011 to tackle the chronic problem of malnutrition among children in Helmand. This specialized unit helps children on the verge of starvation gain weight through assisted feeding. Photo: An MSF staff member examines a child for malnutrition at Boost hospital. Afghanistan 2012 © Camille Gillardeau

Afghanistan: Treating Child Malnutrition in Helmand

“She was vomiting and had diarrhea, and she kept losing weight,” says Mariam of her five-month-old granddaughter Nazia. “Her mother just didn’t have enough milk to feed her. We went to a private clinic but they couldn’t help us, and finally we drove here from our home district of Sangin. Nazia is feeling a little better now.”

Nazia, who still has a distended belly and a clearly visible rib cage, is one of the patients in the MSF herapeutic feeding center in Boost hospital in Lashkargah, the capital of Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

Boost hospital, where MSF has been working since 2009, is one of only two hospitals in all of southern Afghanistan. Helmand is one of the country’s most war-ravaged provinces, and has seen intense fighting over the past decades. It is home to a largely poor, rural population, even if there are signs of a growing middle class in Lashkargah.

MSF opened its feeding center in December 2011 to tackle the chronic problem of malnutrition among children in Helmand. This specialized unit helps children on the verge of starvation gain weight through assisted feeding.

Photo: An MSF staff member examines a child for malnutrition at Boost hospital.

Afghanistan 2012 © Camille Gillardeau

Introducing a New Concept: Mental Health Support in Northwestern Pakistan “I still remember there was a big bomb blast in April 2010, about 300 meters [about 984 feet] away from our hospital. Within a few minutes, dozens of injured patients were already outside the emergency room. We needed to quickly identify who needed to be attended first,” recalls Dr. Muhammad Zaher, who is working with Doctors Without Borders as assistant medical focal person in Timergara, in the Lower Dir district of northwestern Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province. Mental health services are scarce in Pakistan, and Lower Dir is no exception. There are very few psychologists for the district’s estimated population of 1.2 million people. Indeed, the MSF team in Lower Dir knows of only one. In response to this situation, MSF started providing mental health counseling and psychosocial support in the hospital in February 2012. The mental health team is made up of both male and female staff. They provide individual and group counseling to patients referred from the mother-and-child health department, the emergency department, and the post-operative wards. Photo: An MSF staff member and a young patient in the triage area of the DHQ hospital in Timergara Pakistan 2012 © P.K. Lee/MSF

Introducing a New Concept: Mental Health Support in Northwestern Pakistan

“I still remember there was a big bomb blast in April 2010, about 300 meters [about 984 feet] away from our hospital. Within a few minutes, dozens of injured patients were already outside the emergency room. We needed to quickly identify who needed to be attended first,” recalls Dr. Muhammad Zaher, who is working with Doctors Without Borders as assistant medical focal person in Timergara, in the Lower Dir district of northwestern Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province.

Mental health services are scarce in Pakistan, and Lower Dir is no exception. There are very few psychologists for the district’s estimated population of 1.2 million people. Indeed, the MSF team in Lower Dir knows of only one.

In response to this situation, MSF started providing mental health counseling and psychosocial support in the hospital in February 2012.

The mental health team is made up of both male and female staff. They provide individual and group counseling to patients referred from the mother-and-child health department, the emergency department, and the post-operative wards.

Photo: An MSF staff member and a young patient in the triage area of the DHQ hospital in Timergara
Pakistan 2012 © P.K. Lee/MSF

Meeting the Health Needs of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon MSF Assists Syrians Fleeing ConflictMore than 20,700 Syrians who have fled their country are now officially registered in Lebanon, out of 27,000 reported by the UN Refugee Agency. Most of them are living in the north and the Bekaa valley. Some are staying with relatives or with the local community; others are living in public buildings or abandoned houses. Most have few possessions, and life is a daily struggle. Health services and local NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] are also coming under strain. The Syrian crisis is having a growing impact in Lebanon, especially in the border regions and Tripoli. Since mid-April, we have expanded our mental health care services to Tripoli governmental hospital, located in one the most conflict-ridden areas, and an MSF emergency doctor is also helping in the hospital’s emergency department. MSF plans to reinforce its capacity to provide emergency medical care for civilians directly or indirectly affected by the violence by working in a hospital and two health centers.Photo: An MSF staff member attends to a Syrian family that fled across the border to Aarsal. Lebanon 2012 © MSF

Meeting the Health Needs of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
MSF Assists Syrians Fleeing Conflict


More than 20,700 Syrians who have fled their country are now officially registered in Lebanon, out of 27,000 reported by the UN Refugee Agency. Most of them are living in the north and the Bekaa valley. Some are staying with relatives or with the local community; others are living in public buildings or abandoned houses. Most have few possessions, and life is a daily struggle. Health services and local NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] are also coming under strain.

The Syrian crisis is having a growing impact in Lebanon, especially in the border regions and Tripoli. Since mid-April, we have expanded our mental health care services to Tripoli governmental hospital, located in one the most conflict-ridden areas, and an MSF emergency doctor is also helping in the hospital’s emergency department. MSF plans to reinforce its capacity to provide emergency medical care for civilians directly or indirectly affected by the violence by working in a hospital and two health centers.

Photo: An MSF staff member attends to a Syrian family that fled across the border to Aarsal.
Lebanon 2012 © MSF

Focusing on People, Not Politics: Providing Trauma Care in the Palestinian Territories MSF runs mental health programs in the West Bank aimed to alleviate the impact of trauma, stress, and pervasive and often targeted violence, offering psychological and social support as well as medical care to the victims of violence caused by Israeli forces and settlers and intra-Palestinian disputes.Photo: An MSF staff member runs a counseling session in Hebron. Occupied Palestinian Territories © Juan-Carlos Tomasi

Focusing on People, Not Politics: Providing Trauma Care in the Palestinian Territories

MSF runs mental health programs in the West Bank aimed to alleviate the impact of trauma, stress, and pervasive and often targeted violence, offering psychological and social support as well as medical care to the victims of violence caused by Israeli forces and settlers and intra-Palestinian disputes.

Photo: An MSF staff member runs a counseling session in Hebron.
Occupied Palestinian Territories © Juan-Carlos Tomasi