Libya

Despite the instability and ongoing conflict, Libya remains a destination for migrant workers from across the African continent and a transit country for migrants, asylum seekers and refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean and reach Europe. 

A UN-backed interim government was installed in 2015, but Libya remains fragmented by conflict.

Fighting continues in several parts of the country, and the breakdown of law and order, economic collapse, and the existence of three successive governments has had a severe impact on the healthcare system.

Médecins Sans Frontières first began working in Libya in 2011.

PATHWAY TO EUROPE

Almost all the men, women and children who attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea pass through Libya. Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Libya are exposed to extreme, wide-spread violence, and face exploitation in arbitrary detention. Teams aboard our search and rescue ship in the Mediterranean Sea have heard accounts of alarming levels of exploitation people experienced in Libya at the hands of security forces, militias, smuggling networks, and criminal gangs.

Libya
Bright Okeke, 17, Nigeria.
 
The journey from Nigeria to Libya is not easy. We passed many deserts and we struggled and struggled, we didn’t have enough to eat or drink. (c) McConnell / MSF

Cramped Detention Centres

MSF continues to provide medical care to refugees and migrants detained in Libya. We run mobile clinics in migrant detention centres located in and around the capital, Tripoli.Libya’s detention centres are nominally under the control of the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM), and do not meet any national, regional or international health or humanitarian standards.  Medical complaints are mostly related to appalling conditions inside extremely overcrowded detention centres: lice, scabies and flees are rife and significant numbers of detainees suffer from nutritional deficiencies and the lack of safe drinking water. Our teams treat a wide range of common and preventable diseases, including skin disease, acute malnutrition, diarrhoeal disease, as well as respiratory and urinary tract infections.

MSF runs psychosocial activities in detention centres and carries out individual counselling sessions. A large number of refugees suffer from suicidal thoughts, difficulty sleeping, post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD), panic attacks, depression and anxiety. The majority of migrants and refugees in Libya live outside detention centres and, like the local communities, are affected by the deterioration in public health infrastructure, which includes drug and staff shortages. In Misrata, MSF opened an outpatient clinic offering free, primary healthcare and referrals to patients of all ages and nationalities.

People trafficking and torture

MSF operates in specific areas, in order to address the needs of vulnerable groups and provide specialised care. In collaboration with local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), MSF provides paediatric and gynaecology consultations, mental health support to children affected by trauma and violence, and specialised assistance for survivors of trafficking, extortion and torture

Libya

Mother and child in detention centre. (c) Creta / MSF

Find out more about LIBYA

Médecins Sans Frontières has been working in Afghanistan since 1980, providing emergency surgical care, responding to conflict and natural disasters, and treating people cut off from healthcare. 

MSF worked in Angola from 1983 until 2007. Why were we there? Armed conflict Endemic/Epidemic disease Social violence/Healthcare exclusion

MSF worked in Argentina from 2001 until 2003. Why were we there? Providing essential medicines and supplies

MSF worked in Belgium from 1987 to 2009

Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease

Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Social violence/healthcare exclusion Natural disaster

Why are we there? Endemic/Epidemic disease

Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease

Why are we there? Armed conflict Endemic/epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion

Why are we there? Armed conflict Healthcare exclusion Natural disaster

MSF worked in Ecuador until 2007. Why were we there? Endemic/Epidemic disease Natural disaster

Find out more about MSF's work in Egypt

Why are we there? Healthcare exclusion

Why are we there? Healthcare exclusion

Why are we there? Armed conflict Endemic/epidemic disease Social violence/heathcare exclusion

Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease

Haiti’s healthcare system remains precarious in the wake of natural disasters and ongoing political and economic crises. Ongoing disasters have led to Haiti becoming the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Why are we there? Armed conflict Social violence Healthcare exclusion Endemic/epidemic disease

An MSF team in Hong Kong opened a project at the end of January focusing on health education for vulnerable people. Community engagement is a crucial activity of any outbreak response and in Hong Kong, this focuses on groups who are less likely to have access to important medical information, such as the socio-economically disadvantaged. The team is also targeting those who are more vulnerable to developing severe disease if they are infected, such as the elderly.

MSF worked in Indonesia between 1995 and 2009 Why were we there? Natural disaster

Find out about MSF's work in Iran

Why we are there? Healthcare exclusion Natural disaster

Why are we there? Natural disasters

Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion

Why are we there? Healthcare exclusion

MSF ended its operations in Liberia in 2012. Why were we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Social violence/healthcare exclusion

Why are we there? Armed conflict

Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Natural disaster

Why are we there? Conflict Endemic/epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion

Why are we there? Access to healthcare

Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease

Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Social violence/healthcare exclusion

Why are we there? Providing comprehensive emergency healthcare to people in remote regions of Pakistan is a priority, yet accessibility and security are a constraint for both Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and patients.

Why are we there? Armed conflict Healthcare exclusion

MSF worked in Rwanda from 1991 until 2007.
Why were we there? Conflict Healthcare exclusion Endemic/Epidemic disease

Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion

Why are we there? Armed conflict Endemic/epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion

Why were we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion

Why are we there? Refugee assistance

Why are we there? Healthcare exclusion

Why are we there? Armed conflict Endemic/Epidemic disease Healthcare exclusion

Why were we there? Healthcare exclusion

Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease

Why are we there? Endemic/epidemic disease Social violence Healthcare exclusion