Posts tagged conflict

Photo: Patients at the community hospital in Bangui, where MSF treated people wounded in conflict. CAR 2013 © Francois Beda/MSF In Central African Republic, the Violence Has Ended But the Emergency Continues “At the height of the crisis, confrontations, shootings, and abuses occurred daily. Today, tension and violence have subsided and we are now in a particularly delicate phase—a sort of false calm that is both fragile and potentially explosive. Seleka’s two main groups will have to begin negotiations to establish an imminent power-sharing arrangement. There could be friction and clashes within this young coalition,” says MSF head of mission in CAR, Serge St-Louis. As a medical organization, we are very concerned about the unmet needs among a population that was already very vulnerable prior to the Seleka offensive. There are thousands of displaced persons who now live in extremely precarious conditions, without medical care, shelter, food, or water. The health situation is critical in several regions. There are serious shortages of drugs and supplies and there are no health care personnel in the medical facilities. Based on our latest admission figures, the seasonal epidemic of malaria, which is endemic in the CAR, appears to have begun and will surge in the rainy season.

Photo: Patients at the community hospital in Bangui, where MSF treated people wounded in conflict. CAR 2013 © Francois Beda/MSF

In Central African Republic, the Violence Has Ended But the Emergency Continues

“At the height of the crisis, confrontations, shootings, and abuses occurred daily. Today, tension and violence have subsided and we are now in a particularly delicate phase—a sort of false calm that is both fragile and potentially explosive. Seleka’s two main groups will have to begin negotiations to establish an imminent power-sharing arrangement. There could be friction and clashes within this young coalition,” says MSF head of mission in CAR, Serge St-Louis.

As a medical organization, we are very concerned about the unmet needs among a population that was already very vulnerable prior to the Seleka offensive. There are thousands of displaced persons who now live in extremely precarious conditions, without medical care, shelter, food, or water. The health situation is critical in several regions. There are serious shortages of drugs and supplies and there are no health care personnel in the medical facilities. Based on our latest admission figures, the seasonal epidemic of malaria, which is endemic in the CAR, appears to have begun and will surge in the rainy season.

A Young Syrian Woman Shot By a Sniper Gets Assistance as a Refugee

Salwah, 18 years old, was shot by a sniper in Aleppo, and now she cannot walk. After seeking treatment in several hospitals in Syria, she became a refugee in Turkey where she is now receiving assistance. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is providing her with mental health care. Photographs by Anna Surinyach.

After a while they started bombing the towns and villages. The army sent tanks to demolish my house. They broke down the walls and entered with the tanks through the columns. Nothing was left of our house. We fled to another village, but there we were caught by heavy shelling, so I took the children who were terrified of the bombs and brought them to Aarsal in Lebanon.

[In Syria] 400 bombs were falling per hour. We could not cope with the situation anymore, we have children. We had to sleep under trees, in a cave (grotto), in a valley to hide from the bombs. Finally we had no other choice than to flee to Lebanon to protect our children and our lives.

Testimony by a Syrian father of 8 children, who fled the conflict to seek refuge in  Lebanon. Trapped by war, they escaped and they survived—but their living conditions are poor and more healthcare is needed.

CLICK to explore this interactive image: A guide to Syria two years after the conflict began

After two years of extremely violent conflict, the humanitarian situation in Syria is now catastrophic. View and share our interactive image to hear from our patients, see videos and photos and to meet MSF staff.

Syria Two Years On: The Failure of International Aid So Far Since the first protests broke out in Syria in March 2011, the country has spiralled into all-out war. After two years of an extremely violent conflict which has resulted in more than 70,000 dead according to the United Nations, the Syrian people are faced with a humanitarian catastrophe.  Read this report to learn more about how conflict has put the healthcare system in jeopardy. Despite repeated requests, MSF has not received permission from the government to work in the country, but has been able to open three hospitals in the opposition-held areas in the north where assistance remains well below the level of the needs.

Syria Two Years On: The Failure of International Aid So Far

Since the first protests broke out in Syria in March 2011, the country has spiralled into all-out war. After two years of an extremely violent conflict which has resulted in more than 70,000 dead according to the United Nations, the Syrian people are faced with a humanitarian catastrophe. 

Read this report to learn more about how conflict has put the healthcare system in jeopardy. Despite repeated requests, MSF has not received permission from the government to work in the country, but has been able to open three hospitals in the opposition-held areas in the north where assistance remains well below the level of the needs.

ALERT: Fall 2012 The latest issue of our Alert newsletter highlights the devastating crises in South Sudan and Syria, conflict-related emergencies that are causing mass casualties and extensive displacement. In both places, our medical teams are doing as much as they can to ease suffering and save lives.

ALERT: Fall 2012

The latest issue of our Alert newsletter highlights the devastating crises in South Sudan and Syria, conflict-related emergencies that are causing mass casualties and extensive displacement. In both places, our medical teams are doing as much as they can to ease suffering and save lives.

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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. 

Photo: Birihoya Bokani and the remaining members of his family have no permanent shelter. DRC 2012 © Juan Carlos Tomasi A Family Destroyed by Conflict A shabby building in Minova, on the shores of Lake Kivu, prompted MSF to launch an emergency response. The house was crowded with families who had fled two different conflicts in eastern DRC. When they are sheltered by host families, the needs of displaced people can easily go unnoticed, but this overcrowded building made them clearly visible. Sixty-year-old Birihoya Bokani has been sheltering in the house since June, after his hometown, Ufamando I, was attacked by an armed group. His wife and two of his nine children were killed in the attack. “When my wife was about to flee our home, armed men shot at her,” he says. “Lots of people were murdered in the fields and lots of girls aged between 12 and 15 were raped.” As Birihoya tells the painful story of what happened to his family, one of his daughters plays with the buttons on his shirt. The eight remaining family members have no permanent shelter, but they hope that together they will manage to survive. MSF has expanded its emergency medical programs in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in response to increasing humanitarian needs in the region.

Photo: Birihoya Bokani and the remaining members of his family have no permanent shelter. DRC 2012 © Juan Carlos Tomasi

A Family Destroyed by Conflict

A shabby building in Minova, on the shores of Lake Kivu, prompted MSF to launch an emergency response. The house was crowded with families who had fled two different conflicts in eastern DRC. When they are sheltered by host families, the needs of displaced people can easily go unnoticed, but this overcrowded building made them clearly visible.

Sixty-year-old Birihoya Bokani has been sheltering in the house since June, after his hometown, Ufamando I, was attacked by an armed group. His wife and two of his nine children were killed in the attack.

“When my wife was about to flee our home, armed men shot at her,” he says. “Lots of people were murdered in the fields and lots of girls aged between 12 and 15 were raped.”

As Birihoya tells the painful story of what happened to his family, one of his daughters plays with the buttons on his shirt. The eight remaining family members have no permanent shelter, but they hope that together they will manage to survive.

MSF has expanded its emergency medical programs in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in response to increasing humanitarian needs in the region.

Makeshift Hospital in Syria

Conflict in Syria has made it difficult for the wounded to access health treatment. See how MSF doctors, in cooperation with an association of Syrian doctors, turned a house in into a makeshift hospital. They have been treating patients there since June.

As South Sudan marks the first anniversary of its independence on July 9, MSF teams are struggling to save lives in one of the most complicated and challenging refugee crises in its history. Having arrived with stories of violence, some 100,000 Sudanese refugees, many of them ill, have sought sanctuary in camps in Upper Nile State with inadequate resources and harsh living conditions. Here, we take a look at the year that led up to this emergency.Photo: South Sudan © Shannon Jensen

As South Sudan marks the first anniversary of its independence on July 9, MSF teams are struggling to save lives in one of the most complicated and challenging refugee crises in its history. Having arrived with stories of violence, some 100,000 Sudanese refugees, many of them ill, have sought sanctuary in camps in Upper Nile State with inadequate resources and harsh living conditions. Here, we take a look at the year that led up to this emergency.

Photo: South Sudan © Shannon Jensen

We have a real emergency on our hands. We are providing medical care and treating and distributing 90,000 liters of water a day at a temporary gathering point. But the ponds here will be empty at the end of this week—after that the situation becomes critical.
MSF’s emergency coordinator Patrick Swartenbroekx speaking about the sudden influx of tens of thousands of refugees in South Sudan seeking safety from the conflict in Sudan.
Despite Intensifying Conflict in North Kivu, MSF Continues to Provide Health Care Despite the growing complexity of an already unstable situation in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), MSF continues to provide primary and secondary health care to the population, supporting 4 reference hospitals, 12 health centers, 4 health posts, several cholera treatment centers (CTCs), weekly mobile clinics, and emergency response activities as required. “In the last several weeks, we have seen an increase in cases of malnutrition, respiratory infections, and STIs, in addition to treating or providing support to more than two dozen patients directly wounded from the fighting,” reports Corry Kik, MSF medical coordinator in North Kivu.Photo: An MSF staff member examines a young patient in Birambizo Health Zone in North Kivu DRC 2012 © Emily Lynch/MSF

Despite Intensifying Conflict in North Kivu, MSF Continues to Provide Health Care

Despite the growing complexity of an already unstable situation in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), MSF continues to provide primary and secondary health care to the population, supporting 4 reference hospitals, 12 health centers, 4 health posts, several cholera treatment centers (CTCs), weekly mobile clinics, and emergency response activities as required.

“In the last several weeks, we have seen an increase in cases of malnutrition, respiratory infections, and STIs, in addition to treating or providing support to more than two dozen patients directly wounded from the fighting,” reports Corry Kik, MSF medical coordinator in North Kivu.

Photo: An MSF staff member examines a young patient in Birambizo Health Zone in North Kivu DRC 2012 © Emily Lynch/MSF

MSF Blogs: Yin A Mat Po? (Are You Happy?) The woman came to us with no living children. She had been pregnant twice before, but both pregnancies resulted in stillbirths. In the first pregnancy, she had labored for days, and the baby died during labor, but delivered vaginally. In the second pregnancy, she had pushed and pushed, but the baby did not deliver. A C-section was done, but the baby died anyway. I cannot imagine what that must feel like. In the United States, a stillbirth at term is a huge event. Privacy is paramount. A subtle sign is placed on the patient’s door so that the staff knows not to enter unnecessarily. A sympathetic nurse is chosen, one who will comfort the patient. Aggressive pain control is offered, because pain can only make grief worse. And the woman carries that loss with her for the rest of her life.In South Sudan, it is unusual for a woman not to have lost at least one child. They die in childbirth, or they die later of malnutrition, malaria, infection, unexplained illness. I have seen women who have delivered seven children, only to have three of them die; or delivered four children but having only one living child. When a woman comes to us, the first question asked is “How many children have you had?” The second question is, “How many are alive?” Read the rest of the blog from Veronica Ades here.Photo: South Sudan 2012 © Lisa Jones MSF OB-GYN Veronica Ades examines a patient.

MSF Blogs: Yin A Mat Po? (Are You Happy?)

The woman came to us with no living children. She had been pregnant twice before, but both pregnancies resulted in stillbirths. In the first pregnancy, she had labored for days, and the baby died during labor, but delivered vaginally. In the second pregnancy, she had pushed and pushed, but the baby did not deliver. A C-section was done, but the baby died anyway.

I cannot imagine what that must feel like. In the United States, a stillbirth at term is a huge event. Privacy is paramount. A subtle sign is placed on the patient’s door so that the staff knows not to enter unnecessarily. A sympathetic nurse is chosen, one who will comfort the patient. Aggressive pain control is offered, because pain can only make grief worse. And the woman carries that loss with her for the rest of her life.

In South Sudan, it is unusual for a woman not to have lost at least one child. They die in childbirth, or they die later of malnutrition, malaria, infection, unexplained illness. I have seen women who have delivered seven children, only to have three of them die; or delivered four children but having only one living child. When a woman comes to us, the first question asked is “How many children have you had?” The second question is, “How many are alive?”

Read the rest of the blog from Veronica Ades here.

Photo: South Sudan 2012 © Lisa Jones MSF OB-GYN Veronica Ades examines a patient.

Emergency Response Scaled Up as Violence Continues in South Sudan Tensions and hostilities continue unabated between South Sudan and its northern neighbor Sudan, and MSF is scaling up its emergency response by treating people injured in the latest violence, giving material and staff support to local clinics and hospitals, and providing relief to people displaced by the fighting. MSF currently provides life-saving surgery in Aweil and Agok for patients wounded in the recent violence. The organization also reinforced its surgical response capacity in case of a general degradation of the situation. MSF has also donated medicines and medical supplies to local hospitals in Abiemnom and Bentiu in Unity State, both of which have received high numbers of wounded from the recent clashes. Two of MSF’s medical staff have been temporarily seconded to support the Bentiu hospital.Photo: South Sudan 2012 © Robin Meldrum/MSF Refugees from Blue Nile State in Jamam refugee camp

Emergency Response Scaled Up as Violence Continues in South Sudan

Tensions and hostilities continue unabated between South Sudan and its northern neighbor Sudan, and MSF is scaling up its emergency response by treating people injured in the latest violence, giving material and staff support to local clinics and hospitals, and providing relief to people displaced by the fighting.

MSF currently provides life-saving surgery in Aweil and Agok for patients wounded in the recent violence. The organization also reinforced its surgical response capacity in case of a general degradation of the situation.

MSF has also donated medicines and medical supplies to local hospitals in Abiemnom and Bentiu in Unity State, both of which have received high numbers of wounded from the recent clashes. Two of MSF’s medical staff have been temporarily seconded to support the Bentiu hospital.

Photo: South Sudan 2012 © Robin Meldrum/MSF Refugees from Blue Nile State in Jamam refugee camp

Libya: A Precarious Situation for Vulnerable Populations As Libya grapples with consolidating state authority and restoring normality after the revolution, groups of migrants, refugees, and internally displaced people remain in a vulnerable and precarious situation. MSF is continuing to provide basic medical and psychological assistance to these groups in Tripoli. In parallel, MSF will also end its remaining activities in Misrata at the beginning of April to refocus on other areas of intervention. There are concerns that camps in Tripoli are being shut down by authorities without any clear strategy that the people will be appropriately cared for afterwards, leaving former residents in an even more vulnerable situation. Already on February 14, a camp where hundreds of primarily sub-Saharan African migrants had taken refuge was closed and evacuated. On March 20, another camp housing approximately 300 Somali refugees was evacuated, with residents now being spread out over Tripoli. As MSF had been running mobile clinics in these two camps, it is now trying to trace patients to be able to ensure the provision of follow-up care if needed. Currently, MSF is running mobile clinics in two camps for internally displaced people in the city, providing basic health care and psychological support. When necessary, MSF also assists in referring residents to secondary health structures. The camps, containing a total of approximately 4,000 people, are primarily made up of people from the Tawargha city. Members of this community were forcibly displaced at the end of the conflict, and are unable to return home. On average, MSF performs 50 consultations in these two camps every week.Libya 2011 © Niklas Bergstrand Nearly all buildings in Tripoli street in downtown Misrata were completely destroyed during the war.

Libya: A Precarious Situation for Vulnerable Populations

As Libya grapples with consolidating state authority and restoring normality after the revolution, groups of migrants, refugees, and internally displaced people remain in a vulnerable and precarious situation. MSF is continuing to provide basic medical and psychological assistance to these groups in Tripoli. In parallel, MSF will also end its remaining activities in Misrata at the beginning of April to refocus on other areas of intervention.

There are concerns that camps in Tripoli are being shut down by authorities without any clear strategy that the people will be appropriately cared for afterwards, leaving former residents in an even more vulnerable situation. Already on February 14, a camp where hundreds of primarily sub-Saharan African migrants had taken refuge was closed and evacuated. On March 20, another camp housing approximately 300 Somali refugees was evacuated, with residents now being spread out over Tripoli. As MSF had been running mobile clinics in these two camps, it is now trying to trace patients to be able to ensure the provision of follow-up care if needed.

Currently, MSF is running mobile clinics in two camps for internally displaced people in the city, providing basic health care and psychological support. When necessary, MSF also assists in referring residents to secondary health structures. The camps, containing a total of approximately 4,000 people, are primarily made up of people from the Tawargha city. Members of this community were forcibly displaced at the end of the conflict, and are unable to return home. On average, MSF performs 50 consultations in these two camps every week.

Libya 2011 © Niklas Bergstrand
Nearly all buildings in Tripoli street in downtown Misrata were completely destroyed during the war.