Stories From Patients & Staff

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.

Uniting community engagement and water & sanitation initiatives to mitigate neglected disease and water-borne disease threats in Nampula Province, Mozambique.

Al-Shifa, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, is still standing, but it is badly damaged and barely functional and it has transformed into a camp for some 50,000 displaced people.

In every country, women from all walks of life may seek out an abortion at some time of their lives due to many reasons.

A new wave of fighting has gripped Myanmar over the past two months. Severe movement restrictions are preventing mobile clinics from running.

MSF surgeon Dr. Aldo Rodriguez describes the alarming desperation he witnessed in Gaza while providing urgent care for victims of bombings, including children orphaned by the violence. 

Adjusting to an uncertain future after displacement.

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 2012, a year after war broke out in Syria Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) opened a burn care unit in Atmeh, in northwestern Syria’s Idlib province. It is currently the only facility treating burn patients in northwestern Syria, home to more than more than 4.5 million people, most of whom are displaced. 

Set up two years ago, MSF’s South Sudan Emergency Response Unit (SSERU) was designed as a first responder to crises across South Sudan and to reinforce MSF’s preparedness for dealing with emergencies. This article describes the SSERU’s first major emergency response which took place in Paloich in July and August 2023.