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Medical Issues

We work to help the people in greatest need, wherever they are. Our medical teams carry out more than ten million patient consultations a year and our medical activities run from basic vaccination campaigns to complex surgery.

Our emergency medical work extends to neglected, forgotten diseases and long-term care for chronic conditions. We also advocate for affordable, high-quality medicines for the world's poorest people.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on 11 March 2020. Roughly 80 percent of confirmed cases of COVID-19 experience a mild respiratory illness but it has a higher rate of severe complications for vulnerable people – than other viruses such as flu.

Chagas is not as well known as diseases such as malaria or cholera yet it affects between six and seven million people and kills up to 12,500 each year.

Cholera is preventable and easily treated, yet it infects millions of people each year and causes up to 143,000 deaths worldwide.

Since Saturday 15 April, intense fighting has been taking place between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF - the military forces of the Republic of the Sudan) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF – a powerful     paramilitary  group) in the capital Khartoum and other parts of Sudan

What good is a breakthrough treatment if the people who need it can’t afford it?

An obstetric fistula is a hole between the vagina and the bladder or rectum, through which urine or stool leaks continuously. They are devastating injuries resulting from complicated childbirths, affecting more than two million women worldwide.

Our teams are on the ground in Pakistan, providing emergency medical and humanitarian assistance to people affected by the destructive floods.

Since its discovery in 1981, HIV/AIDS has killed more than 25 million people. HIV gradually weakens the body’s immune system, usually over a period of up to 10 years after infection.

Kala azar is the second largest parasitic killer in the world - only Malaria is more deadly. Along with Chagas disease and sleeping sickness, kala azar is one of the most dangerous neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

Every year, malaria kills around 660,000 people and infects more than 200 million. Ninety percent of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.

Many women across the world give birth without medical assistance, massively increasing the risk of complications or death. Ninety nine percent of these deaths are in developing countries. The majority are preventable with appropriate care.

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease characterised by a rash, and mainly affects young children. It is one of the leading causes of death in children, even though it is easily prevented by vaccines.

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