Stories & News

MSF teams have been treating cholera and stopped the spread by working with community health promotion teams in Buhera district. Across Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces and 62 districts, 24,885 people have been infected and there have been 501 deaths since the first cases were identified in February 2023.

Prue Coakley began working with MSF in 2010, after her master’s degree in international development ignited her interest in global health. She has completed 15 assignments with MSF, starting first in field admin which involved finance and HR responsibilities. After several assignments in this position, she trained in project coordination and progressed to project coordinator on a project in Chhattisgarh, India in 2013.

Dr Monica Costeira from Portugal is a paediatrician in MSF’s project in Mazar-i-Sharif in Balkh Province of Afghanistan. Following a four month assignment, she reports on the gaps in access to paediatric and neonatal healthcare for mothers in northern Afghanistan and describes the strength and resilience of families and children at the Mazar-i-Sharif Regional Hospital.

In August 2023, MSF launched medical services at Mazar-i-Sharif Regional Hospital in Balkh Province in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health, aiming to reduce paediatric and neonatal mortality rates in the northern provinces.

Herat Province in western Afghanistan has been hit by three powerful earthquakes as well as innumerable aftershocks of varying strengths. Earthquake survivors share their stories.

Following on from the earthquake that hit Herat in western Afghanistan on Saturday, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) head of programme, Yahya Kalilah, shares an update on the current situation.

Peter Clausen completed an electrical apprenticeship after school, he then went on to study journalism and work for the ABC in North Queensland, before completing a Masters in Disaster Management. He is an experienced MSF project coordinator and progressed to head of mission over his eight assignments. He first worked in Yemen in 2013, followed by projects in Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Tanzania, and most recently Ukraine in 2022 and again in 2023. 

Tongogara Refugee Camp (TRC) is a remote place in the south-east of Zimbabwe where over 15,000 people live; mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Burundi and Rwanda. While in their country of origin, most of the refugees experienced traumatic events including war, rape, torture and physical injuries, among other traumatic events that caused them to flee. 

Ban will only worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis in the country.