Doctors Without Borders

2008
Cyclone Hits Myanmar

MSF staff already working in the country provides assistance to thousands of people displaced by the cyclone while the government stalls on allowing additional staff to enter the country.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Myanmar 2008 © Eyal Warshawski

2008
Violence Escalates against Civilians in Democratic Republic of Congo

MSF runs mobile clinics, surgical programs, nutritional programs, and provides treatment and counseling for victims of sexual violence as thousands of Congolese in North Kivu flee increased and repeated attacks on their villages by armed groups.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Democratic Republic of Congo 2009 © Vanessa Vick

2008
Political Unrest in Kenya Displaces Thousands
MSF treats wounded civilians in the shanty towns of the capital, Nairobi, and assists displaced Kenyans in makeshift camps who flee to the west of the country after disputed presidential elections lead to widespread violence.

MSF Aid Workers Killed in Somalia
Mohamed Abdi Ali (Bidhaan), Damian Lehalle, and Victor Okumu are killed when a deliberately-placed roadside bomb hits the MSF vehicle they are traveling in. MSF withdraws all international staff from the country and continues to run reduced programs with Somali staff.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Kenya 2008 © © William Martin / MSF

2007
Crisis Unfolds in Chad

More than 150,000 displaced people attempt to survive in makeshift camps in eastern Chad as fighting escalates between government and rebel groups. MSF scales up its medical programs and calls for a massive international humanitarian response.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Chad 2007 © Marcus Bleasdale

2007
MSF Returns to Iraq

MSF sets up surgical programs in Iraqi Kurdistan to treat wounded civilians unable to receive adequate care in overwhelmed, under-staffed, and under-equipped hospitals in other areas of Iraq and continues to supply hospitals with medicines and equipment.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Iraq 2008 © Valerie Babize / MSF

2007
Conflict Grips Somalia
Hundreds of thousands of civilians flee the capital, Mogadishu, as the worst fighting in 15 years erupts throughout the city. Amid great insecurity, MSF sets up a surgical program in Mogadishu, provides assistance to some of those displaced, and maintains medical programs in the rest of the country.

The Access to Essential Medicines Campaign Takes On Malnutrition
With the proven success of ready-to-use food in treating severely and moderately malnourished children, MSF campaigns for others in the field to scale up their programs and to adopt similar protocols. MSF pushes for food aid and nutritional programs to include ingredients that are appropriate for the most vulnerable children—those between six months and two years of age.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Somalia 2007 © Juan Carlos Tomasi

2007
Pharmaceutical Companies Attempt to Block Access to Essential Medicines

MSF campaigns against Novartis for its legal challenge to Indian patent law in order to protect the production of low-cost generic medicines. India supplies MSF with 80 percent of the antiretrovirals needed for 100,000 patients worldwide. In August, the Indian courts rule against Novartis.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: India 2007 © Michel Lotrowska/MSF

2007
A New Treatment for Malaria

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative and the pharmaceutical company sanofi-aventis launch ASAQ, an inexpensive and easy-to-use combination pill. ASAQ is not patented, allowing for others to produce it at lower cost.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: France 2007 © DNDi

2006
Sri Lanka Returns to War

As tens of thousands of people flee renewed fighting in the north of the country, MSF reopens surgical programs in north and central Sri Lanka after facing a series of setbacks from the authorities.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Sri Lanka 2007 © Henk Braam

2006
Massive Cholera Outbreak in Angola

MSF treats 26,000 people and sends more than 400 tons of supplies to respond to a cholera outbreak that spreads from the capital to more than half the country.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Angola 2007 © MSF

2006
Surgical Care for Victims of War in Iraq

Unable to work safely in Iraq, MSF sets up a reconstructive surgical program in Amman, Jordan to treat severely war-wounded patients referred by medical colleagues in Iraq.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

2005
Devastating Earthquake Hits Southeast Asia

MSF runs mobile clinics to reach people trapped in remote villages and sets up inflatable surgical tents to treat thousands of people injured in the massive earthquake that hit the Kashmir region of Pakistan and India.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

2005
Civilians Under Fire in Haiti’s Capital

MSF provides surgical, primary, and mental health care to people caught in the violence gripping Port-au-Prince, treating thousands of gunshot, machete, and knife wounds, and calls for all armed groups to respect the safety of civilians.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

2005
Nutritional Crisis in Niger

Drawing on derestricted funds that came in following the tsunami, MSF responds to an overlooked and neglected malnutrition crisis in Niger, treating 63,000 severely malnourished children on an outpatient basis with a new therapeutic ready-to-use-food, the first time it has used this treatment protocol on such a massive scale. MSF subsequently revises its guidelines for treating malnutrition to include this innovative approach.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

2004
Tsunami Hits South Asia

MSF receives $133 million from the public and asks people to stop making donations for the crisis, having received more funding than needed for its medical programs in the region. MSF also asks donors to “derestrict” donations so they can be used for other emergencies; the vast majority agrees.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Posts tagged About