Posts tagged africa

Photo by Mathieu Fortoul/MSF

Although the procedure lasts only 20 minutes, it is stressful for the patient. Dressing wounds is very painful and requires a general anesthetic so that the surgical team can clean the wound and change the dressing.  

Photo by Mathieu Fortoul/MSF

Dorassio is in the recovery room for an hour, alongside MSF’s other surgical patients.  The surgical team will perform more than 10 operations over the course of the day. All of these patients are considered serious cases – whether in terms of their survival or continued functioning. Our surgical activities focus on victims of violence (including injuries from gunshots, knife attacks, grenade explosions and arrows). The patients’ prognosis for survival is often uncertain.

Photo by Mathieu Fortoul/MSF

Dorassio’s older sister, Cynthia, comes every day to provide support, help him wash and eat, and keep him company.

Photo by Mathieu Fortoul/MSF

MSF has been managing surgical emergencies at the Bangui Community Hospital in CAR since early December, treating an average of 140 patients every week. To address the inflow of patients in recent weeks, MSF teams have set up tents in the courtyard of the Community Hospital for patients receiving post-operative care. There are more than 80 patients here. The wait between treatment and surgery is often long. Dorassio is practicing writing with his other hand to become a writer and tell his story. 

Photo by Juan Carlos Tomasi

“Our teams have witnessed the consequences of extreme violence, including bullet wounds, maiming from attacks, and lynchings, which are daily realities in Bangui.” Read an update of MSF’s activities in Central African Republic:http://bit.ly/1ebCM36

Photo by Juan Carlos Tomasi/MSF

Patients with leg wounds - most by bullets - lay in traction in a hospital in Bangui, Central African Republic. MSF is providing care in the only trauma unit in the city and has treated more than 800 patients with bullet and knife wounds since early December. Read more:http://bit.ly/1inqOoZ

Photo by Phil Moore

A girl recovers in an MSF clinic after suffering an electric shock from an exposed wire in a refugee camp in Juba, South Sudan. Roughly 300 miles north of Juba, in Malakal, MSF was forced to suspend its medical activities last week after the MSF compound was looted. Thousands of people were left without medical care. Read more: http://bit.ly/1aohxdM

Photo by Raphael Piret/MSF

Families displaced by violence in Bangui, Central African Republic, are living under the wings of an abandoned plane in a camp where around 100,000 people have taken refuge. Fighting continues in Bangui - already more than half a million people have been driven from their homes. MSF is providing medical care and vaccinations at several sites in Bangui. 

Photo by Jake Simkin

An MSF medical worker in Juba, South Sudan, treats an injured woman, one of the 40,000 people taking refuge from fighting in that area. Overall, MSF emergency teams are working in Juba, Awerial, and Malakal, providing medical care to more than 110,000 displaced people. Read more: http://bit.ly/1f8ZPga 

Photo by Phil Moore

An injured child receives medical care from MSF in Juba, South Sudan. Fighting throughout the country over the past three weeks has driven people from their homes and many are now sheltering in overcrowded camps with limited assistance. In Juba, MSF teams are seeing hundreds of people per day with diarrhea, malaria, and respiratory infections. “Highly vulnerable people have just become even more vulnerable,“ said Raphael Gorgeu, MSF’s head of mission in South Sudan. “We don’t know what will happen to the thousands of displaced and wounded people across the country.” Read more: http://bit.ly/1f8ZPga 

Photo by Jake Simkin

A child receives treatment from an MSF doctor in Juba, South Sudan, where tens of thousands of people have taken refuge from fighting in the area. Even before the recent fighting broke out, 80% of all health care and basic services in South Sudan was provided by NGOs and many people had limited access to care. Now, due to the dangerous security conditions for residents and aid groups alike, access to care is even more limited, with potentially grave consequences. Read more:http://bit.ly/1f8ZPga 

From the series MSF in 2013:

“Traveling from village to village, we hear just one word: measles. People are frightened and hopeless. They’re asking for help.”
— Nathalie Gielen, Doctors Without Borders team manager

An MSF doctor examines a child being treated for measles in Province Orientale, DRC. Photo © Tristan Pfund

From the series MSF in 2013:

“We sent mobile clinics out to reach people who’d fled into the bush, where terrible conditions and lack of food made malnutrition a huge problem. Even though we were a small team we saved a lot of children’s lives that way.”
— Dr. Yolaine Civil, Doctors Without Borders pediatrician in Central African Republic (CAR)
MSF staff weigh a baby to check for malnutrition at a mobile clinic near Bossangoa, CAR. Photo © Ton Koene

Photo by Jacob Simkin/MSF

South Sudan: Since fighting erupted in Bor, Jonglei State, people have been fleeing to the town of Awerial, in neighboring Lakes State, seeking safety. The area does not have the capacity to absorb all of the new arrivals, and living conditions are near catastrophic. More medical and humanitarian assistance is urgently needed. See a slideshow: http://bit.ly/1bWgOuq

From the series MSF in 2013:

“We land in the bush with boxes of medicines, plastic sheeting and two stakes to provide a little shade and we go about our work with just the basics … [treating] people with serious infections, malnourished children, pregnant women with infections, and the list goes on.”
—Caroline Scholtes, Doctors Without Borders nurse in South Sudan

MSF nurse Caroline Scholtes examines a baby during an MSF mobile clinic in Dorain, Jonglei State, South Sudan. Photo © Caroline Scholtes/MSF