Stories From Patients & Staff

Of the more than 69,000 Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff in 2023, many thousands are nurses. Here, four MSF nurses from northwest Syria share a bit about their experiences: what a good day looks like, stories from their work, and some of the challenges they have overcome. 

Following heavy Israeli ground and air strikes on 8-9 June, Al-Aqsa hospital is overcrowded with hundreds of wounded—mostly women and children. Bec Smith, a nurse from Broome, West Australia, is currently in Gaza working as a nursing activity manager. Here she describes the traumatic situation in which she and her colleagues are working.

Healing psychological trauma in Gaza cannot happen until there is a ceasefire.

On the morning of Saturday 8 June 2024, Israeli forces heavily bombed the Middle Area of the Gaza Strip, including Al-Nuseirat refugee camp. MSF's Dr Hazem Maloh recalls that horrific and traumatising day when he lost many of his friends and neighbours. 

Most of the people who fled Sudan into Chad are women and children. Left as the sole providers, Sudanese women are now bearing the full responsibility of caring for their families. 

In December 2023, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) began providing surgical activities at the Niono hospital in central Mali. People living in Niono and the surrounding area suffer the effects of armed conflict, with limited access to quality health facilities. MSF teams have now renovated the department, as well as providing additional resources to cater to the needs. 

Sue Bucknell took a chance in 2016 by taking leave from her job in Australia to go on her first assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to South Sudan, where she worked in supply logistics.

Two massacres in Rafah have occurred after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to “immediately” halt its military offensive in Rafah, in application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. 

Without proper diagnostics and staff who can interpret test results, antibiotics are prescribed blindly – driving the rise of resistant bacteria worldwide. Dr Malou, MSF microbiologist has developed an app to act as a diagnostic test and a learning tool in countries where there is a shortage of microbiologists.