Posts tagged aid

As a doctor, in MSF work and in Canada, family members tap me on the shoulder and ask for my attention all the time. It’s hard to know if it is an emergency or a less serious concern. The man who was looking for his brother was just one of these worried family members the night of this critical event. Everyone who has lost their brother or their sister deserves a helping hand. That is what we are here to do.
A traffic accident with around 50 casualties puts Raghu and his team to the test. Raghu is a medical doctor working with MSF in Chad. Please leave your questions and comments for Raghu below his blog post.
Aid must not be hijacked as a political too MSF is deeply concerned by the British Prime Minister’s statement yesterday, proposing to use more DFID funding to stabilise conflict-affected states to further national security interests. Aid must not be hijacked as a political tool, Mr Cameron.

Aid must not be hijacked as a political too

MSF is deeply concerned by the British Prime Minister’s statement yesterday, proposing to use more DFID funding to stabilise conflict-affected states to further national security interests. Aid must not be hijacked as a political tool, Mr Cameron.

Photo: An elderly Syrian refugee suffering from Parkinson’s disease sleeps in a room in a ramshackle home on a cattle ground in Tripoli, Lebanon, surrounded by his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Lebanon 2013 © Michael Goldfarb Lebanon: Aid Lags Far Behind as Syrian Refugees Increase Syrians who have fled violent conflict at home to seek safety in Lebanon do not receive anywhere near adequate levels of humanitarian assistance and are living in extremely precarious conditions, a detailed survey released today by MSF. The MSF report, “Misery Beyond the War Zone,” shows that of the 220,000Syrians who have sought refuge so far in Lebanon, many cannot obtain necessary health care, among other worrying findings. The survey, which follows a similarstudy carried out by MSF six months ago, reveals a marked deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Lebanon, in large part due to extremely lengthy registration delays. Refugees in Lebanon are not entitled to formal assistance if they are not registered. Lebanon is home to the largest number of Syrian refugees.

Photo: An elderly Syrian refugee suffering from Parkinson’s disease sleeps in a room in a ramshackle home on a cattle ground in Tripoli, Lebanon, surrounded by his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Lebanon 2013 © Michael Goldfarb

Lebanon: Aid Lags Far Behind as Syrian Refugees Increase

Syrians who have fled violent conflict at home to seek safety in Lebanon do not receive anywhere near adequate levels of humanitarian assistance and are living in extremely precarious conditions, a detailed survey released today by MSF.

The MSF report, “Misery Beyond the War Zone,” shows that of the 220,000Syrians who have sought refuge so far in Lebanon, many cannot obtain necessary health care, among other worrying findings. The survey, which follows a similarstudy carried out by MSF six months ago, reveals a marked deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Lebanon, in large part due to extremely lengthy registration delays. Refugees in Lebanon are not entitled to formal assistance if they are not registered. Lebanon is home to the largest number of Syrian refugees.

Photo: People queue for food distribution in Mugunga III camp. DRC 2012 © Aurelie Baumel/MSF DRC: High Levels of Sexual Violence in Goma Camps People displaced by armed conflict around Goma are now suffering high levels of sexual violence in and around the camps where they have taken shelter. Between December 3, 2012, and January 5, 2013, the MSF team working in Mugunga III camp, a few kilometers west of Goma, registered and treated 95 patients who were victims of sexual violence, with a notable increase in late December. MSF denounces the lack of action on the part of those responsible for protecting civilians and the poor security conditions in the Goma camps.  “The camps and surrounding villages face a glaring lack of security,” said Thierry Goffeau, MSF head of mission in Goma. “The responsible authorities and the leaders of the various armed groups all claim—without exception—that they are defending the civilian populations. They must thus assume their responsibility and ensure that the most vulnerable are not subject to violence or reprisals.”

Photo: People queue for food distribution in Mugunga III camp. DRC 2012 © Aurelie Baumel/MSF

DRC: High Levels of Sexual Violence in Goma Camps

People displaced by armed conflict around Goma are now suffering high levels of sexual violence in and around the camps where they have taken shelter.

Between December 3, 2012, and January 5, 2013, the MSF team working in Mugunga III camp, a few kilometers west of Goma, registered and treated 95 patients who were victims of sexual violence, with a notable increase in late December. MSF denounces the lack of action on the part of those responsible for protecting civilians and the poor security conditions in the Goma camps. 

“The camps and surrounding villages face a glaring lack of security,” said Thierry Goffeau, MSF head of mission in Goma. “The responsible authorities and the leaders of the various armed groups all claim—without exception—that they are defending the civilian populations. They must thus assume their responsibility and ensure that the most vulnerable are not subject to violence or reprisals.”

We would like to highlight the humanitarian situation in this remote territory, and to see more aid organizations coming or returning as the needs are high and the situation is unlikely to calm down in the near future. Masisi territory has nearly as many people as the city of Goma and the humanitarian needs there are at least as significant. However, there are many fewer organizations working there. After the last few weeks’ fighting, the MSF teams find themselves alone. The violence in Masisi is receiving less media attention, but it is just as critical.
MSF program manager, Amaury Grégoire, calls upon the international aid community for help in DRC.

MSF has supported the General Hospital in Masisi since 2007 and provides free primary and secondary care there. Between January and September 2012, MSF hospitalized more than 5,800 patients, performed 1,320 surgeries and admitted 462 malnourished children and 653 pregnant women. 
Photo: The Domeez refugee camp in Iraq, where MSF has been treating Syrian refugees since this past May. Iraq 2012 © Fayçal Touiz/MSF Humanitarian Response Still Insufficient For Syrians In and Out of the Country The humanitarian situation in Syria continues to worsen as the war escalates and attacks against health facilities continue. Access to large parts of the country remains extremely difficult due to insecurity and heavy fighting, and more than two million people have been displaced. The number of Syrians seeking refuge in neighboring countries is increasing, but the humanitarian response in Lebanon and Iraq has so far been unable to meet their needs. The arrival of winter is exacerbating the difficult living conditions of Syrian refugees and the population remaining in the country Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) currently works in three field hospitals in the north of Syria. Since June, 10,000 patients have received medical attention for reasons including violence-related injuries such as gunshot wounds, shrapnel wounds, open fractures, and injuries due to explosions. More than 900 surgical procedures have been carried out. Admissions are irregular, depending on shifting frontlines and whether it is possible to refer the wounded. MSF is also providing training in mass casualty management, triage, and emergency care to Syrian health personnel who need support in the management of war-wounded patients. Specific assistance is also being provided to medical facilities, such as helping set up an emergency room and a blood bank in Aleppo area. Several other health facilities have been set up by Syrian doctors and other medical organizations to treat the wounded in the northern region. However, general access to health services remains limited for the population, particularly for people suffering from chronic illnesses. A significant number of MSF’s patients need treatment for chronic disease or accidental trauma, or assistance during childbirth. Further support needs to be developed to meet these needs.

Photo: The Domeez refugee camp in Iraq, where MSF has been treating Syrian refugees since this past May. Iraq 2012 © Fayçal Touiz/MSF

Humanitarian Response Still Insufficient For Syrians In and Out of the Country

The humanitarian situation in Syria continues to worsen as the war escalates and attacks against health facilities continue. Access to large parts of the country remains extremely difficult due to insecurity and heavy fighting, and more than two million people have been displaced. The number of Syrians seeking refuge in neighboring countries is increasing, but the humanitarian response in Lebanon and Iraq has so far been unable to meet their needs. The arrival of winter is exacerbating the difficult living conditions of Syrian refugees and the population remaining in the country

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) currently works in three field hospitals in the north of Syria. Since June, 10,000 patients have received medical attention for reasons including violence-related injuries such as gunshot wounds, shrapnel wounds, open fractures, and injuries due to explosions. More than 900 surgical procedures have been carried out. Admissions are irregular, depending on shifting frontlines and whether it is possible to refer the wounded. MSF is also providing training in mass casualty management, triage, and emergency care to Syrian health personnel who need support in the management of war-wounded patients. Specific assistance is also being provided to medical facilities, such as helping set up an emergency room and a blood bank in Aleppo area.

Several other health facilities have been set up by Syrian doctors and other medical organizations to treat the wounded in the northern region. However, general access to health services remains limited for the population, particularly for people suffering from chronic illnesses. A significant number of MSF’s patients need treatment for chronic disease or accidental trauma, or assistance during childbirth. Further support needs to be developed to meet these needs.

How MSF Works: Delivering Aid MSF-Logistique is as a nonprofit humanitarian purchasing and distribution center. It is a licensed pharmaceutical institution, meaning we have permission from the French authorities to operate a business that deals with drugs. That’s why we have four pharmacists on staff. We are also licensed to hold materials in customs. All of our supplies are officially in transit because nothing in our warehouse is destined for use in Europe. With this status we avoid customs taxes, can store products for as long as needed, and can ship to the field right away, without worrying about clearing customs.

How MSF Works: Delivering Aid

MSF-Logistique is as a nonprofit humanitarian purchasing and distribution center. It is a licensed pharmaceutical institution, meaning we have permission from the French authorities to operate a business that deals with drugs. That’s why we have four pharmacists on staff. We are also licensed to hold materials in customs. All of our supplies are officially in transit because nothing in our warehouse is destined for use in Europe. With this status we avoid customs taxes, can store products for as long as needed, and can ship to the field right away, without worrying about clearing customs.

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Doctors Without Borders: Life-Saving Aid, Tough Compromises

Listen to this KQED interview with Sophie Delaunay, MSF USA executive director, on how we navigate on-the-ground realities while maintaining our humanitarian principles.For international humanitarian aid groups, saving lives inevitably involves compromise — such as negotiating with despots, putting employees in harm’s way and sometimes even promoting military intervention. 

MSF.TV: Neglected People
Over 15 million refugees worldwide flee persecution. Refugees have a right to flee, and a right to healthcare. Like everyone.

Photo: South Sudan 2012 © Nichole Sobecki Working in the field A Doctors Without Borders field assignment is a commitment—of time and passion—to apply your skills to help men, women, and children whose lives hang in the balance. Our recruitment process is competitive because we are always looking for the best people to strengthen our collective expertise and increase the quality of medical care we deliver to our patients. What it takes To become an aid worker with Doctors Without Borders, applicants must meet the following general requirements: Experience. At least two years of continuous relevant professional experience.  Availability. Doctors should be available for a minimum of six months (Surgeons, anesthesiologists, operating room nurses, nurse anesthetists, and OB/GYNs may be accepted for shorter assignments), and all other professionals for nine to 12 months.  Ability to Live and Work as a Team. With long hours and basic living conditions, aid workers need to be tolerant, flexible, and possess solid interpersonal skills. Experience in Resource-Poor Settings. Prior work experience in the developing world or extensive work in resource-poor North American settings is strongly desired.  Ability to Manage Stress. With sizable workloads in or near conflict areas, aid workers must be able to cope in difficult and unpredictable situations. Flexibility. Situations can change quickly in the field, and job descriptions must change accordingly.  Flexibility is critical to success on a project.  Language skills. The ability to speak French, Portuguese, Spanish, or Arabic, as well as English, is highly valued, as are many other languages.  Who is Needed MedicalPhysicians, Obstetricians/Gynecologists, Surgeons, Anesthesiologists, Registered Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, Operating Room Nurses, Nurse-Midwives, Epidemiologists, HIV/AIDS and TB Specialists, Pharmacists, Mental Health Specialists Non-Medical Logisticians coordinate supplies, oversee transportation and communications equipment, and supervise national non-medical staff. Water and Sanitation Specialists and Construction Professionals provide clean water and housing to stem the spread of communicable diseases, give shelter to displaced people, and create hospital facilities. Administrators and Financial Controllers are responsible for project bookkeeping, budget control, financial reporting, and human resources. Learn more.

Photo: South Sudan 2012 © Nichole Sobecki

Working in the field

A Doctors Without Borders field assignment is a commitment—of time and passion—to apply your skills to help men, women, and children whose lives hang in the balance. Our recruitment process is competitive because we are always looking for the best people to strengthen our collective expertise and increase the quality of medical care we deliver to our patients.

What it takes

To become an aid worker with Doctors Without Borders, applicants must meet the following general requirements:

  • Experience. At least two years of continuous relevant professional experience. 
  • Availability. Doctors should be available for a minimum of six months (Surgeons, anesthesiologists, operating room nurses, nurse anesthetists, and OB/GYNs may be accepted for shorter assignments), and all other professionals for nine to 12 months. 
  • Ability to Live and Work as a Team. With long hours and basic living conditions, aid workers need to be tolerant, flexible, and possess solid interpersonal skills. Experience in Resource-Poor Settings. Prior work experience in the developing world or extensive work in resource-poor North American settings is strongly desired. 
  • Ability to Manage Stress. With sizable workloads in or near conflict areas, aid workers must be able to cope in difficult and unpredictable situations. Flexibility. Situations can change quickly in the field, and job descriptions must change accordingly. 
  • Flexibility is critical to success on a project. 
  • Language skills. The ability to speak French, Portuguese, Spanish, or Arabic, as well as English, is highly valued, as are many other languages. 

Who is Needed

Medical
Physicians, Obstetricians/Gynecologists, Surgeons, Anesthesiologists, Registered Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, Operating Room Nurses, Nurse-Midwives, Epidemiologists, HIV/AIDS and TB Specialists, Pharmacists, Mental Health Specialists

Non-Medical
Logisticians coordinate supplies, oversee transportation and communications equipment, and supervise national non-medical staff. Water and Sanitation Specialists and Construction Professionals provide clean water and housing to stem the spread of communicable diseases, give shelter to displaced people, and create hospital facilities. Administrators and Financial Controllers are responsible for project bookkeeping, budget control, financial reporting, and human resources.

Learn more.

Chasing Sleeping Sickness in Central Africa

An MSF team is traveling around isolated villages and regions in central African countries in order to offer treatment and screening for sleeping sickness, a parasitic disease spread by the tsetse fly that can be fatal if it is not treated.

The Long Battle Against TB

Though the number of TB patients is on the rise worldwide—MSF treated some 25,000 cases in 2010 alone—there is still too little access to care and too few new diagnostic tools and medicines.

Somali Refugees in Dadaab Struggle On

Though the international spotlight has moved on, hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees in the Dadaab camps in northwestern Kenya, the largest refugee camps in the world, continue to struggle amid harsh conditions and pervasive malnutrition, particularly among children. Aid has been too slow in coming, however, and longer-term solutions are nowhere to be found.

Maternal Health: An Ongoing Emergency

MSF is providing maternal and emergency obstetric care in more than 30 countries worldwide, but in places where woman cannot access care, some 1,000 die every day due to complications in pregnancy and delivery.

“Now There is Nothing”: Testimonies from Refugees in South Sudan Amani, who brought her daughter Harrap to the field hospital in Jamam for treatment: “The rainy season is coming. And the place we are living, it looks like it will be in the water. We need to find another place. I know this soil, and when the rains come this will be a swamp, this will be filled with water… This is a bad place. My daughter has diarrhea with blood. This problem has been going on for a long time now. It first started in the middle of the fighting. So now she has been ill for a long time. When the fighting started, there was no way for us to get treatment. We were just running, running, always running, until we got here. This is the first time I have been able to get some medical care for her. MSF is the first treatment we have got.”Photo: South Sudan 2012 © Robin Meldrum A mother with her child in the Doro refugee camp in South Sudan.

“Now There is Nothing”: Testimonies from Refugees in South Sudan

 Amani, who brought her daughter Harrap to the field hospital in Jamam for treatment:

“The rainy season is coming. And the place we are living, it looks like it will be in the water. We need to find another place. I know this soil, and when the rains come this will be a swamp, this will be filled with water… This is a bad place.

My daughter has diarrhea with blood. This problem has been going on for a long time now. It first started in the middle of the fighting. So now she has been ill for a long time. When the fighting started, there was no way for us to get treatment. We were just running, running, always running, until we got here. This is the first time I have been able to get some medical care for her. MSF is the first treatment we have got.”

Photo: South Sudan 2012 © Robin Meldrum
A mother with her child in the Doro refugee camp in South Sudan.