Stories & News

Patrick Baffoun is someone who wants to experience as much as possible, now he has joined Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). What drives him is a desire to get a comprehensive understanding of how MSF’s projects work from the ground up.  

Dr Lisa Searle is a general practitioner from Tasmania who has built a career with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), completing 11 assignments since 2010.

Jeanne Vidal has worked as a water and sanitation logistician and a logistics team leader on seven assignments with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). She has worked on projects in Ethiopia, South Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and most recently Sierra Leone. She spoke to us about her work overseas and what the role of a water and sanitation logistician (or 'watsan’) involves. 

In June 2021, three Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff were brutally murdered in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Following a New York Times investigation into the killings of our colleagues, MSF is urging the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) to respond. 

Following is a statement from the president of MSF Spain, Paula Gil. 

Following the brutal murder of three staff in the Ethiopian region of Tigray on 24 June, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is calling for an immediate investigation into the killings and insists that aid workers are allowed to do their jobs in safety.

In response to the killings, we have suspended our activities in Abi Adi, Adigrat and Axum, in central and eastern Tigray. MSF teams in other areas of Tigray will continue cautiously to provide assistance to people in urgent need.  

María Hernández, Yohannes Halefom and Tedros Gebremariam were killed on 24 June in Tigray, Ethiopia. Their colleagues from Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) remember them.

Today we are in mourning after receiving confirmation of the death of three of our colleagues who we were working in Tigray. Maria Hernandez, our emergency coordinator, Yohannes Halefom Reda, our assistant coordinator and Tedros Gebremariam Gebremichael our driver were travelling yesterday afternoon when we lost contact with them. This morning the vehicle was found empty and a few metres away, their lifeless bodies.

Many of Tigray’s six million people live in mountainous and rural areas where they are all but invisible to the outside world. While teams of aid workers have been deployed to the main cities of this northern Ethiopian region over recent months, aid is failing to reach more remote communities, where the impact of the conflict has often been severe. Many people have been unable to access healthcare and other basic services for the past six months and are still living in fear.

Severe flooding is affecting an estimated 1.3 million people across South Sudan and Ethiopia, inundating homes and leaving many without adequate food, water or shelter. Heavy summer rains have seen many areas flooded since July, with river levels continuing to rise.