Stories From Patients & Staff

Typhoon Rai devastated central and southern Philippines in December 2021. MSF's emergency intervention is located in two of the typhoon’s most badly affected areas—the island province of Dinagat; and Siargao island, in the province of Surigao del Norte. 

Two months on, survivors and MSF staff share their stories about the impact of the typhoon on their lives and livelihoods.

As we mark 50 years of medical humanitarian action, Dr Christos Christou, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International President, reflects on what has changed over half a century of care—and what has stayed the same. 

Yoeuth Yoeun fled the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the late 1970s. In a refugee camp in Thailand she worked with Médecins Sans Frontières—where she caught the eye of fellow Cambodian, pharmacist Chamroeun Ros.

Psychologist Malcolm Hugo is one of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Australia’s most experienced field workers. He has completed more than 20 field assignments, including responding to some of the key humanitarian crises of recent times.

The Afghan healthcare system has been fragile and plagued by major gaps for years now, and the suspension of international aid as a result of the recent political developments has further deteriorated the situation.

In Herat, Médecins Sans Frontières is witnessing a worrying increase in malnutrition, says Mamman Mustapha, former Project Coordinator for MSF in the province.

Access to good menstrual hygiene is key to women’s health and wellbeing. But too often in humanitarian crises, these needs go unmet.

Medical coordinator Chiara Domenichini, and midwife and women’s health advisor Elisha Swift share current Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) work to support menstrual hygiene solutions.

Dr Khairil Musa, is a Sydney based emergency doctor who, in 2020, was sent as a field worker with Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF)/Doctors Without Borders to Yemen and later Iraq.

Dr Musa’s piece is an account of his time working in a COVID-19 treatment centre, run by MSF in Aden, Yemen.

Sarah Gnanaseharam is an Australian nurse who shares her experiences working as Nursing Activity Manager in Al Hol camp, northeast Syria.

Fighting in the city of Kunduz in north-eastern Afghanistan ended on 8 August. During the clashes, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) transformed its office space into a temporary trauma unit to treat the people wounded. That unit is now closed and on 16 August all patients were transferred to the nearly-finished Kunduz Trauma Centre that MSF had been building since 2018.

After months of fighting on the outskirts of Herat in Afghanistan, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also known as the Taliban, took control of the city on August 12. MSF is running an inpatient therapeutic feeding centre (IFTC), a clinic for displaced people, and a COVID-19 treatment centre in Herat.