Posts tagged africa

Photo: An MSF staff member vaccinates a child for measles. DRC 2008 © Anna Surinyach GAVI Needs to Offer Lower Vaccine Prices to Humanitarian Groups The GAVI Alliance should systematically extend the discounted vaccine prices it obtains from pharmaceutical companies to humanitarian organizations that are often well placed to reach unvaccinated children, MSF said today at the GAVI Partners Forum meeting in Tanzania. Currently, humanitarian groups such as MSF are not able to obtain vaccines at GAVI prices, and are left to negotiate access to vaccines on a cumbersome case-by-case basis.

Photo: An MSF staff member vaccinates a child for measles. DRC 2008 © Anna Surinyach

GAVI Needs to Offer Lower Vaccine Prices to Humanitarian Groups

The GAVI Alliance should systematically extend the discounted vaccine prices it obtains from pharmaceutical companies to humanitarian organizations that are often well placed to reach unvaccinated children, MSF said today at the GAVI Partners Forum meeting in Tanzania. Currently, humanitarian groups such as MSF are not able to obtain vaccines at GAVI prices, and are left to negotiate access to vaccines on a cumbersome case-by-case basis.

Photo: Looted and burned houses in Pinga after fighting between armed groups caused the majority of the town’s population—together with many of MSF’s Congolese staff—to flee the area in October. DRC 2012 © MSF Violence in North Kivu, DRC, Displaces Thousands, Forces Majority of MSF Personnel to Evacuate Active fighting has hit the town of Pinga in the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) once again, forcing 20,000 inhabitants and the majority of Congolese personnel employed by MSF to flee for the second time in six weeks. Armed groups have clashed in the last few days, causing widespread panic and alarm in the area. Fearing for their lives, people grabbed whatever they could carry and ran into the surrounding forests. While displaced from their homes and villages, people’s access to health care is extremely limited. Some of those wounded in the fighting were brought to the MSF-run hospital 50 kilometers [about 31 miles] away in Mweso where doctors treated 24 people for violent trauma. Twelve more managed to reach the Mpeti health center 18 kilometers [about 11 miles] away from Pinga. “What we see in Pinga is the tip of the iceberg,” said Grace Tang, MSF head of mission. “This kind of violence and mass displacement is happening throughout the province of North Kivu. We’re trying to respond as best we can in very difficult and challenging circumstances.”

Photo: Looted and burned houses in Pinga after fighting between armed groups caused the majority of the town’s population—together with many of MSF’s Congolese staff—to flee the area in October. DRC 2012 © MSF

Violence in North Kivu, DRC, Displaces Thousands, Forces Majority of MSF Personnel to Evacuate


Active fighting has hit the town of Pinga in the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) once again, forcing 20,000 inhabitants and the majority of Congolese personnel employed by MSF to flee for the second time in six weeks.

Armed groups have clashed in the last few days, causing widespread panic and alarm in the area. Fearing for their lives, people grabbed whatever they could carry and ran into the surrounding forests. While displaced from their homes and villages, people’s access to health care is extremely limited. Some of those wounded in the fighting were brought to the MSF-run hospital 50 kilometers [about 31 miles] away in Mweso where doctors treated 24 people for violent trauma. Twelve more managed to reach the Mpeti health center 18 kilometers [about 11 miles] away from Pinga.

“What we see in Pinga is the tip of the iceberg,” said Grace Tang, MSF head of mission. “This kind of violence and mass displacement is happening throughout the province of North Kivu. We’re trying to respond as best we can in very difficult and challenging circumstances.”

I’ve lost count with the negative sputum results I’ve been receiving lately. Things are looking rather promising; surely I’m close to the finishing line.
Phumeza, 22, blogs about her hopes of finally finishing her XDR-TB treatment in South Africa.
UMOJA: A village where no men are allowed These Kenyan women have faced violence and oppression in their community for many years. They say violence and male dominance are part of their culture—a part that they do not like. Following a fierce leader, Rebecca, the women of Umoja started their own village. A village where no men are allowed. A village that is safe for women to live well, eat healthy, and support each other. Watch this moving documentary to see how the Umoja women created a safe space, and sustained living. 

UMOJA: A village where no men are allowed

These Kenyan women have faced violence and oppression in their community for many years. They say violence and male dominance are part of their culture—a part that they do not like. Following a fierce leader, Rebecca, the women of Umoja started their own village. A village where no men are allowed. A village that is safe for women to live well, eat healthy, and support each other. Watch this moving documentary to see how the Umoja women created a safe space, and sustained living. 

The past few weeks in the mountains have been hectic. Due to increased fighting in the region, more and more IDPs [internally displaced people] have been coming into the areas we work in. Due to increased overcrowding and a risk of a measles epidemic, we started organizing a Measles Vaccination Campaign in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. The target group of a campaign consists of children aged six months to 15 years. In order to provide sufficient herd immunity, a coverage of 100% is required ie: all children need to be vaccinated. In reality, a result of 75% coverage is acceptable. A vaccination campaign is a huge logistical exercise.
Angie is a doctor working with MSF in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. Please leave your questions and comments for Angie in the comments box below her blog post. 
Photo: Mothers and children queue to receive food as part of treatment in Guidan Roumdji, where MSF treats malnutrition and malaria. Niger 2012 © Tanya Bindra Op-Ed: How to Start a Child Survival Epidemic “Running your infant to the pediatrician for a well-baby check up and shots may seem like just another chore. Who do you know who ever had measles? Many parents wonder if all those shots are really necessary in the first place. But last week, mothers, nurses, and doctors in Niger reminded me just how powerful and important these simple gestures are.” How can improving childhood survival rates in Niger spread to a child survival epidemic? MSF pediatrician, Susan Shephered, discusses her work in the field and strategies to reduce childhood mortality worldwide.  This article was originally published on the Huffington Post.

Photo: Mothers and children queue to receive food as part of treatment in Guidan Roumdji, where MSF treats malnutrition and malaria. Niger 2012 © Tanya Bindra

Op-Ed: How to Start a Child Survival Epidemic

“Running your infant to the pediatrician for a well-baby check up and shots may seem like just another chore. Who do you know who ever had measles? Many parents wonder if all those shots are really necessary in the first place. But last week, mothers, nurses, and doctors in Niger reminded me just how powerful and important these simple gestures are.”

How can improving childhood survival rates in Niger spread to a child survival epidemic? MSF pediatrician, Susan Shephered, discusses her work in the field and strategies to reduce childhood mortality worldwide. 

This article was originally published on the Huffington Post.

Our patient from the other day first presented to an outside clinic, where there is no surgeon, when he still felt too weak to stand several days after being beaten with fists and sticks. He was admitted to the clinic with a swollen, distended abdomen and increasing pain, given intravenous fluids, evaluated with an X-ray and a blood count, suggesting blood loss, followed by a phone call to our project chief and a discussion with me about transfer. At home this patient would have had a CT scan to identify whether he had an injury to the spleen and/or liver, plus checked for signs of other injuries that would suggest he needed surgery. With a stable liver or spleen injury, he would be placed at bed rest to minimize the chance of recurrent bleeding. Here in the Central African Republic the choice was to risk leaving him at a facility that had no capability for an operation or transfer him to Paoua by LandRover with the risk of making any potential bleeding worse, as the trip is slightly less jarring than playing a game of rugby. We told them to send him over as soon as they could. Due to a combination of vehicle availability, road conditions and security issues, it was a full 24 hours before he arrived in Paoua, now almost six days from his initial injury.
Excerpt from MSF surgeon, David Lauter’s, Wait, Watch, Act field blog post.
Sleeping on the ground in day-old, fishy, muddy, sweaty clothes isn’t my idea of a great night out, but still it gave me time and reason to reflect and understand the people I’m working with better. Not the staff, though yes them too somewhat, but the patients. The oldies that come with general body pains that we send away with no medication, telling them its normal to have body pains after working in the fields cultivating, carrying 20kg drums of water for miles on their heads, cutting and carrying wood for miles just in order to live.

Kate Chapman is a nurse working with MSF in Matter, Ethiopia. Kate and her team have an unexpected camping adventure and gain further understanding of how local people live when they get stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Click here to read the rest of Kate’s blog.

Click here to learn more about Doctors Without Borders projects in Ethiopia.

An Escalating Health Crisis in South Sudan Above: Asha Jibril cares for her two-year-old daughter Aziza Haran in the ITFC at MSF’s field hospital in Batil camp. A lack of nutritious food and clean water have left Aziza severely acutely malnourished and severely dehydrated. Since November 2011, MSF has been operating emergency programs in South Sudan for tens of thousands of refugees who fled violence in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile States. MSF has field hospitals in five refugee camps in Unity and Upper Nile states in South Sudan (Batil, Doro, Jamam, Yida, and Gendrassa). However, resources in the camps are stretched extremely thin, and the humanitarian crisis is only worsening as more refugees arrive. Heavy rains have exacerbated the situation, flooding camps and leaving refugees—many of whom have already endured the journey from Sudan on foot—vulnerable to diseases like diarrhea, malaria, and cholera.Photo: South Sudan 2012 © Nichole Sobecki

An Escalating Health Crisis in South Sudan

Above: Asha Jibril cares for her two-year-old daughter Aziza Haran in the ITFC at MSF’s field hospital in Batil camp. A lack of nutritious food and clean water have left Aziza severely acutely malnourished and severely dehydrated.

Since November 2011, MSF has been operating emergency programs in South Sudan for tens of thousands of refugees who fled violence in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile States. MSF has field hospitals in five refugee camps in Unity and Upper Nile states in South Sudan (Batil, Doro, Jamam, Yida, and Gendrassa). However, resources in the camps are stretched extremely thin, and the humanitarian crisis is only worsening as more refugees arrive. Heavy rains have exacerbated the situation, flooding camps and leaving refugees—many of whom have already endured the journey from Sudan on foot—vulnerable to diseases like diarrhea, malaria, and cholera.

Photo: South Sudan 2012 © Nichole Sobecki

It’s a kind of medical utilitarianism: the patients’ needs come before everything. And people appreciate it: at a checkpoint, a man always gave us bananas because we saved his leg. They show us their babies in the street, and they remind us that the birth was difficult but that they’re still there.

Anna Halford, returning from a four-month mission as a project coordinator in DRC, reflects on the work MSF does to help people enduring daily violence.

Despite a volatile security situation, MSF continues to provide free health care in four reference hospitals, 12 health centers, and four health posts in North Kivu, as well as in four reference hospitals, 19 health centers, and five health posts in the province of South Kivu. There are also a number of cholera treatment centers (CTCs), mobile clinics, and emergency response activities.

At the project in Masisi, MSF performed 105,681 medical consultations in 2011. In the Masisi hospital, 7,226 inpatients were admitted for hospital care and 3,947 women gave birth for free.

This is…what we’re here for: responding to the most urgent and immediate medical needs. It is incredible what we have been able to achieve, but it’s not enough. There is always something more that can be done, and we have to fight to make sure these people have what they need, not just to survive, but to give them dignity, give them quality of life, make sure that they can maintain the spirit that they have.

Helen Ottens-Patterson, from the United Kingdom, is a nurse and Doctors Without Borders medical coordinator in Upper Nile State’s Maban County, South Sudan.

Here she speaks about the overwhelming situation of refugees in South Sudan.

If you missed our Doctors Without Borders South Sudan webcast last night, the full recording is here. Learn more about the situation in South Sudan.

If you missed our Doctors Without Borders South Sudan webcast last night, the full recording is here.

Learn more about the situation in South Sudan.

Sleeping Sickness: Treating a Neglected Disease in Central African Republic Sleeping sickness, which is transmitted by the tsetse fly, is mainly found in central Africa. During the first stage of the illness, people feel feverish and weak, but once the parasite enters their central nervous system, their symptoms change, and they become confused, lose their coordination, and suffer sleep disturbances and personality changes. Their mental faculties deteriorate until eventually they sink into a coma—the long sleep which gives the illness its name. Since 2006, monitoring and controlling sleeping sickness in the remote and inaccessible southeast of CAR has been particularly difficult due to cross-border attacks by the Ugandan rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army. This past July, MSF’s mobile sleeping sickness team spent 18 days screening and treating people for the disease in Mboki, in CAR’s Haut M’boumou region. In the week before screening started, community health workers, with the help of local authorities, traveled around the area raising awareness of the disease and passing on the message that free testing and treatment were available.Photo: An MSF health worker checks a young boy for signs of sleeping sickness in Mboki, Central African Republic.CAR 2012 © Sebastian Bolesch

Sleeping Sickness: Treating a Neglected Disease in Central African Republic

Sleeping sickness, which is transmitted by the tsetse fly, is mainly found in central Africa. During the first stage of the illness, people feel feverish and weak, but once the parasite enters their central nervous system, their symptoms change, and they become confused, lose their coordination, and suffer sleep disturbances and personality changes. Their mental faculties deteriorate until eventually they sink into a coma—the long sleep which gives the illness its name.

Since 2006, monitoring and controlling sleeping sickness in the remote and inaccessible southeast of CAR has been particularly difficult due to cross-border attacks by the Ugandan rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army.

This past July, MSF’s mobile sleeping sickness team spent 18 days screening and treating people for the disease in Mboki, in CAR’s Haut M’boumou region. In the week before screening started, community health workers, with the help of local authorities, traveled around the area raising awareness of the disease and passing on the message that free testing and treatment were available.

Photo: An MSF health worker checks a young boy for signs of sleeping sickness in Mboki, Central African Republic.
CAR 2012 © Sebastian Bolesch

“This Emergency is Huge—I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It” “Families have lost and are losing mothers, fathers, and children. The coping mechanisms of this population have been destroyed. People who could normally manage just simply can’t. Their reserves have been eroded piece by piece during the long and grueling journey that has brought them to Batil camp. You see their faces, and it’s not that there is no emotion—they are feeling something inside, but they are just shutting down. It’s something that I can’t really describe. We have to actively seek out and support these vulnerable families and help them with each step.”-Helen Ottens-Patterson, from the United Kingdom, is a nurse and MSF medical coordinator in Upper Nile State’s Maban County, South Sudan. Here, MSF is the largest provider of emergency medical care for more than 110,000 refugees that have fled fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile state. In Batil refugee camp, one of four camps in the county, a recent survey carried out by MSF showed that the mortality rate for children under five years old was more than double the emergency threshold. Here, Helen shares her experience providing care for this particularly vulnerable group of people.Photo:Helen Ottens-Patterson and Mohammed, who is now receiving intensive treatment for malnutrition at an MSF facility. South Sudan 2012 © Olga Overbeek/MSF

“This Emergency is Huge—I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It”

“Families have lost and are losing mothers, fathers, and children. The coping mechanisms of this population have been destroyed. People who could normally manage just simply can’t. Their reserves have been eroded piece by piece during the long and grueling journey that has brought them to Batil camp. You see their faces, and it’s not that there is no emotion—they are feeling something inside, but they are just shutting down. It’s something that I can’t really describe. We have to actively seek out and support these vulnerable families and help them with each step.”

-Helen Ottens-Patterson, from the United Kingdom, is a nurse and MSF medical coordinator in Upper Nile State’s Maban County, South Sudan. Here, MSF is the largest provider of emergency medical care for more than 110,000 refugees that have fled fighting in Sudan’s Blue Nile state. In Batil refugee camp, one of four camps in the county, a recent survey carried out by MSF showed that the mortality rate for children under five years old was more than double the emergency threshold.

Here, Helen shares her experience providing care for this particularly vulnerable group of people.

Photo:Helen Ottens-Patterson and Mohammed, who is now receiving intensive treatment for malnutrition at an MSF facility.
South Sudan 2012 © Olga Overbeek/MSF

In North Kivu, Violence is “Hopelessly Commonplace” At the end of 2011, Doctors Without Borders was the target of a violent attack in Masisi, North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This incident forced the organization to reduce its teams between that November and April of this year. Activities have resumed, but the security situation remains tense. Anna Halford, returning from a four-month mission as a project coordinator in DRC, reflects on the work Doctors Without Borders does to help people enduring daily violence.After the attack last November, how did Doctors Without Borders start its activities up again? Immediately after the attack we reduced the project to several fixed activities with supervision maintained from outside the project. We were mainly working in the hospital and in two health centers, while all our peripheral activities, like mobile clinics, ambulances, and referrals were suspended. We also stopped all public health promotion beyond a 5 kilometer [about 3 mile] radius. Patients wait at an MSF facility in Masisi, where activities have resumed after a 2011 attack. DRC 2011 © Peter Casaer

In North Kivu, Violence is “Hopelessly Commonplace”

At the end of 2011, Doctors Without Borders was the target of a violent attack in Masisi, North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This incident forced the organization to reduce its teams between that November and April of this year. Activities have resumed, but the security situation remains tense. Anna Halford, returning from a four-month mission as a project coordinator in DRC, reflects on the work Doctors Without Borders does to help people enduring daily violence.

After the attack last November, how did Doctors Without Borders start its activities up again?

Immediately after the attack we reduced the project to several fixed activities with supervision maintained from outside the project. We were mainly working in the hospital and in two health centers, while all our peripheral activities, like mobile clinics, ambulances, and referrals were suspended. We also stopped all public health promotion beyond a 5 kilometer [about 3 mile] radius.

Patients wait at an MSF facility in Masisi, where activities have resumed after a 2011 attack. DRC 2011 © Peter Casaer