Stories & News

Dr Khairil Musa, an intensive care doctor from Sydney, reflects on his time working with MSF in Aden, Yemen

As the global coronavirus pandemic reshapes lives around the world, the health needs of children in low income settings continue to overwhelm already stretched health systems. The impact of COVID-19 on children is twofold: the direct effects of the disease itself, and the indirect consequences. 

One month after the explosion ripped through Beirut, MSF teams continue to provide aid to those injured and left homeless in a country that has been battered by crisis. Jonathan Whittall, former MSF emergency coordinator in Beirut and director of MSF’s Analysis Department, answers questions on our response since the explosion on 4 August.

Médecins Sans Frontières field workers are familiar with responding to emergencies and navigating quickly changing circumstances. Many have now drawn on that experience as they respond to the COVID-19 outbreak within Australia, in roles ranging from direct patient care, to providing health workers with psychological support, to managing Australia’s overall medical response. 

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.

Nurses and midwives are the backbone of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) multidisciplinary teams. They also fulfill diverse and critical roles in health promotion, patient education and community care. 

Throughout 2020, MSF is celebrating the efforts of nurses and midwives and highlighting their daily contributions in and alongside MSF projects.

In 2020, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) provided medical care for people in more than 70 countries. From responding to disease epidemics to providing healthcare in conflict zones, here are some of the most memorable stories from our patients over the last year. 

Papua New Guinea managed to avoid the worst of the global pandemic in 2020. Now, the country is enduring a severe COVID-19 outbreak that is threatening to overwhelm the health system.

Stigma and misinformation hamper efforts to fight off the coronavirus. Médecins Sans Frontières is providing psychological support to COVID-19 patients in PNG as the country continues to struggle with the outbreak. 

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF / Doctors Without Borders) has scaled-up its emergency response amid a surging second wave of COVID-19 in Mumbai in Maharashtra state. India recently broke a global record when it recorded more than 300,000 new infections in a single day, with a whopping 115,736 new cases reported in Maharashtra state on a single day on 16 April.

As the second wave of COVID-19 is reaching extremely alarming levels in India Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has scaled up its intervention in Mumbai, where the increasing number of people with COVID-19 has devastated the health care system and overwhelmed frontline workers. Dr Gautam Harigovind, medical activity manager for MSF’s COVID-19 project in Mumbai, shares his story.