Posts tagged africa

In 2011, 39 year old Prisca enrolled as a patient in the MSF HIV/AIDS project in Zimbabwe. She was diagnosed with HIV in 2008 and became pregnant by her second husband in 2010, whom she had met at the project. She named her daughter, Shamiso and gave birth in January of 2011. In Shona, one of the widest spoken languages in Zimbabwe, Shamiso means ‘miracle’. And a miracle she was. When tested, Shamiso’s tests came back with a result that truly shocked Prisca – HIV negative. Because of that, Prisca even thought of having a second child with her husband.

Now Shamiso is 5 years old and is a fully healthy and functioning child, even attending school. 

“I had not known about MSF’s HIV program before I went and got tested but when I tested positive, I followed all the instructions I was given, but I still thought my child would be HIV positive. I had lost all hope but I got assistance and through that, I was able to give birth to an HIV negative child.”

In 2015, our wish is for at least one safe and effective Ebola treatment and at least one safe and effective vaccine: http://ow.ly/G38a8

Today marks 20 years since the Rwandan genocide during which approximately 800,000 people lost their lives. Many MSF staff were among the dead. For the first time MSF is sharing its internal communications during the genocide and its aftermath with the public. These reports depict the struggles and humanitarian dilemmas that the organization faced internally. See MSF’s Speaking Out Case Studies: http://speakingout.msf.org/en/genocide-of-rwandan-tutsi

Photo by Samantha Maurin /MSF

The refugees, including many children, from CAR who’ve arrived seeking safety in Sido, Chad, have witnessed the worst atrocities. “Most of the refugees who told me their stories did so in a monotone, with solemn faces,“ said an MSF psychiatrist, "without going into details about the bodies carved up in the massacres, keeping their distance from the expression of painful emotions.”http://bit.ly/1mfQyVR

“I didn’t want to be another statistic of TB.” Phumeza endured incredibly arduous treatment for her extensively drug-resistant TB. Now she is asking for better care for all TB patients. Sign the TB Manifesto:http://www.msfaccess.org/TBmanifesto/
Photo by Sydelle Willow Smith

Some 2.96 million people are currently displaced in DR Congo  and many of them have no access to humanitarian assistance. Many communities are cut off from medical care due to poor infrastructure, displacement and conflict, and adequate assistance is not being provided in rural and conflict-affected areas by aid organizations and by the state. At the same time, violence against civilians, medical staff and property is commonplace, and health care providers are regularly required to suspend operations, leaving people deprived of the medical care they urgently need. Read MSF’s report, “Everyday Emergency: Silent Suffering in Democratic Republic of Congo”: http://bit.ly/1mT34fk

Photo by Remi Djian/MSF

An MSF medical worker measures a displaced child for malnutrition. Muslim communities in many towns in western Central African Republic (CAR) have been attacked in recent weeks and residents have fled. In the town of Carnot, on several occasions, armed men entered the grounds of the city hospital where MSF is working, either in an attempt to kill patients or to attack displaced people living there. The hospital teams had to intervene each time. Read more: http://bit.ly/1czCb5W

Photo by William Daniels

MSF medical staff prepare an injured man to be moved across town from a camp to a hospital in Bangui, Central African Republic. Due to fighting between two main armed groups, many people in Bangui have been affected by extreme violence. Read more: http://bit.ly/1nqaSzY

Photo by William Daniels

MSF medical staff treat a man who was hit by an arrow at Mpoko airport camp in Bangui, Central African Republic. Around 100,000 people displaced by violence are sheltering at the camp. MSF has provided medical care to about 1,000 people so far.  Read more: http://bit.ly/1nqaSzY

Photo by Mathieu Fortoul/MSF

Dorassio is 23. He is among the many victims of the inter-communal violence taking place in the Central African Republic today. On January 18, he was shot in the arm in Bouar, in the country’s Northwest region. His arm had to be amputated. He was treated by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Bouar, and then transferred by plane to the Bangui Community Hospital, where our surgical teams continue to monitor his condition. Here, Dorassio waits to be moved into the operating room at the Community Hospital. This will be his fifth operation since he arrived at the hospital.  

Photo by Mathieu Fortoul/MSF

The surgical team moves him into the operating room and places him on the operating table.