Posts tagged humanitarian

Meet Sarmad, 23, from Iraq.

Sarmad left his country because of the security situation. He lived in Turkey for a short time but decided to try and reach Europe.

He has lived inside Moria camp for the past eight months and he works as a barber to collect some money to live.

“… I am not talking only about myself, I am talking about all the refugees. Their life is difficult here, you can see, we live in tents. There have been problems here, some people died because of fire…we have had enough of war and of destruction, of explosions and killings every day, and of the houses collapsing on our heads. And we have come straight into psychological warfare.

Maybe we should come back to our country, then? That’s it, maybe if we are going to die, we should die in our country.” 

Dr. Ilaria Moneta, Italian pediatrician currently on a MSF mission in the Central African Republic

“One of the patients who touched me the most is an 18 months old boy who was suffering from pneumonia and severe malnutrition.

He was very weak when he was admitted, but improved significantly during his 10 days stay with us. You know, it’s not good for small children to stay that long in a hospital. But this little boy recovered remarkably, and towards the end of his stay he was so much better, always giving me a big smile when I would come, grabbing my hand, wanting to engage.

But yesterday he came back for his follow up appointment, and he worried me. He lost a lot of weight in a week – that’s not good for a such a young child. I could see right away that he was not well: he didn’t recognize me anymore, he was sad, he was like another person. I wanted to hospitalize him again to keep an eye on him, but we couldn’t. They live in town, so at least they don’t have to travel far to come to us. They didn’t come back today, so he must be doing OK. I hope so.

The reality of pneumonia can be very scary and dangerous. Each year, it takes the lives of nearly one million kids. There’s a vaccine to prevent it, but it’s too expensive for many countries to afford. That’s why we need #Pfizer and #GSK to drop the price to $5/child for all developing countries and humanitarian organizations. #AskPharma http://afairshot.org

JonJon, 33 years old from the US

I will never forget the MONTH I had pneumonia. It started on a cold Tuesday night in early December 2010. At the time I thought I was coming down with a cold, and by Thursday I was fully convinced I caught a bad flu. Little did I know by that Saturday morning I would be admitted into my local hospitals ER and diagnosed with streptococcus pneumonia. 

I had a high fever, my vision was blurred, and time seemed to slow down with every breath I took as I struggled to fill my lungs with air. I literally felt like I was drowning, and I felt helpless. As the doctor put me under to calm me down, I remember still gasping for air to let my mom that I loved her and my family. I truly believed I was going to die.

I woke up days later from a medically induced coma, intubated to a machine that was breathing for me. I found out that my lungs had filled up so much with infection that only 1/3 of my right lung was capable in taking oxygen. For the next two weeks it was a battle between pneumonia and me.  

I was taken off the machine and released home just before New Years Eve. Since I was bedridden, and deprived of solid food and water for a few weeks, I was left frail, and I could barely walk or stand on my own. My lung capacity was next to none and after I spoke a sentence I was out of breath as though I had been jogging for miles. Slowly but surely I made a full recovery. 

I was thankful and blessed I made it through that experience, and I always say I would never wish pneumonia on anyone.

The reality of pneumonia can be very scary and dangerous. Each year, it takes the lives of nearly one million kids. There’s a vaccine to prevent it, but it’s too expensive for many countries to afford. That’s why we need #Pfizer and #GSK to drop the price to $5/child for all developing countries and humanitarian organizations. #AskPharma http://afairshot.org

MSF Ships Rescue Nearly 2,000 People in One Day on the Mediterranean

On October 3rd, MSF rescue teams on board the ships Bourbon Argos, Dignity I, and Aquarius (in partnership with humanitarian organization SOS MEDITERRANEE) rescued nearly 2,000 men, women, and children from 11 separate boats in under seven hours on the Mediterranean. 

Since April 21st, since MSF’s search and rescue operations began for 2016, the rescue teams on board the three ships have rescued 14,547 people in more than 100 different rescue operations. MSF continues to stress that although search and rescue lifesaving is essential, the only way to truly stop deaths at sea is to provide safe and legal alternatives to dangerous sea crossings.

On World Humanitarian Day, let’s #ShareHumanity by making it easier for humanitarian orgs to protect kids all over the world from pneumonia. Lower the price of your pneumonia vaccines, Pfizer and GSK! 

A Nurse shares her first encounter with a baby that had pneumonia. 

MSF was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of Dr. Richard Rockefeller, who was killed today in a plane crash. MSF extends its deepest sympathies and condolences to his family. Dr. Rockefeller was instrumental to the founding of MSF in the United States. He served as chair of the Board of Advisors of MSF-USA for 21 years, leveraging his credibility within the philanthropic community to garner the financial support that was so critical to ensuring MSF’s continued financial independence. While leading this advisory committee and visiting MSF programs abroad, including those in Cambodia, Malawi, Niger, Thailand, and Cambodia, Dr. Rockefeller also worked as a field doctor in Peru and in northern Nigeria while a massive meningitis outbreak struck the country in 2009. Read more: http://bit.ly/1scvvYb

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

Join us on Reddit THURSDAY at 2pm EDT/6pm GMT to Ask Us Anything about drug-resistant TB. Kees Keus has managed MSF’s TB project in Swaziland for 4 years and Jezza Neumann directed the new FRONTLINE documentary “TB Silent Killer”, now available at pbs.org/frontline. This AMA is an opportunity to ask anything you want to know about drug-resistant TB. Photo © 2014 True Vision Productions