Stories & News

Kabul, 30 December, 2022 - After months of continuous restrictions placed on the female population of Afghanistan, limitations placed on their participation in everyday life, access to education, and most recently even the right to work for non-governmental organisations, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) strongly condemns the Islamic Emirate’s erasure of women from social life in the country.

Intervening for the first time in Marseille during the automatic suspension of evictions that applies in France during the winter months in January 2020, then during the COVID-19 pandemic, Médecins Sans Frontières now offers medical assistance and multidisciplinary support to age-disputed foreign minors.

In 2022, MSF teams around the world continued to respond to crises, old and new. While COVID-19 was not the emergency it was in previous years, new challenges arose. The war in Ukraine escalated in February; the political, humanitarian and economic crises in Haiti deteriorated severely; cholera emerged on an exceptional scale in several countries. 

In has been more than three months since devastating floods caused vast damage across Pakistan and displaced millions, but only in recent weeks have waters started to recede and people been able to return home. 

Voices from MSF patients and staff on the devastating effects of war.

On 7 December, two medical evacuations were organised by the Geo Barents team: one for the nine-month pregnant woman to Malta by helicopter, the other for Fatima*, her newborn baby Ali* and her three other sons to Lampedusa.

The rest of the 249 survivors remain aboard waiting for a place of safety to disembark.