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Measles

Measles

Every year half a million children affected by measles die, mostly in Africa and Asia. Even though a safe and effective vaccine exists, outbreaks occur all round the world because routine immunisation programmes are not in place or are not effective. Measles is caused by the measles virus and is highly contagious. Infection occurs by coming into contact with fluids released when an infected person coughs or sneezes.   Early symptoms include a runny nose, cough, eye infection, followed by diarrhoea, dehydration and pneumonia. If untreated, measles can kill and children infected often become chronically malnourished as well due to the energy they spend fighting the disease.   Vaccination is the best form of protection against...
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South Sudan facing multiple emergencies

27 April 2012
  MSF supporting health structures near the border with Sudan and assisting displaced people   Tensions and hostilities continue unabated between South Sudan and its northern neighbour Sudan, and MSF is scaling up its emergency response by treating people injured in the latest violence, giving material and staff support to local clinics and hospitals, and providing relief to people displaced by the fighting.   MSF currently provides life-saving surgery in Aweil and Agok for patients wounded in the recent violence. The organisation also reinforced its surgical response capacity in case of a general degradation of the situation.   MSF has also donated medicines and medical supplies to local hospitals in Abiemnom and...
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Somalia: Measles Takes its Toll

06 March 2012
Somalia: A four-year-old boy suffering from measles and malnutrition
A four-year-old boy suffering from measles and malnutrition waits for his medicine in Banadir hospital in Mogadishu.
Measles is sweeping unchecked through parts of southern Somalia. The disease is highly contagious and unvaccinated children are at great risk, especially if they are also malnourished. The war in southern Somalia is a key factor contributing to ongoing widespread malnutrition, low vaccination coverage and lack of access to healthcare services. All of these factors aggravate the spread and severity of diseases like measles. In some MSF programmes measles cases have sharply increased in recent days and weeks, many of them in severe condition.       A four-year-old boy suffering from measles and malnutrition waits for his medicine in Banadir hospital in Mogadishu. Photo: Martina...
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Ethiopia: "There is still so much to improve

29 February 2012
Ethiopia
Ethiopia: MSF provides primary health care, psycho social care, runs a nutrition program, reproductive health program and an out Patient Department.
In early 2011, there were some 40,000 Somali refugees in Ethiopia. By the end of 2011, that number had more than tripled, to 142,000, following a mass exodus triggered by a terrible drought that killed crops and herds in a country already wracked by 20 years of conflict. The numbers alone, however, do not tell much about the days, or even weeks, Somalis spend walking to reach and cross the border with barely any food or water. It does not reveal the dire malnutrition affecting the children in the camps, nor does it express the effort made by humanitarian agencies to fight hunger and exclusion and reduce emergency levels of child mortality. José Luis Dvorzak, a Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (...
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MSF Frontline Reports podcast: The Struggle For Basic Medical Care in North Kivu, DRC

24 November 2011
DRC
MSF in Democratic Republic of Congo
    Paul Brockmann worked as the project coordinator for a year in the Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) primary health care program in and around the village of Mweso, in North Kivu Province. People living in this area of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have to contend with ongoing insecurity and outbreaks of violence that push them out of their homes. They suffer from preventable diseases like cholera, measles, and malaria, and are often unable to access medical care. Which is why MSF has been working there for 30 years. Here Brockmann describes what he saw during his time in North Kivu.
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Democratic Republic of Congo: Condition Still Critical

22 November 2011
DRC
Democratic Republic of Congo
Decades of conflict and a lack of government investment have made it hard for people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to access basic healthcare. Epidemics have spread unchecked and treatment of deadly diseases has been neglected.   Click on the photo to view the slideshow "Day In Day Out: Delivering Basic Health Care in DRC Eastern DRCcontext is still volatile, marked by shifting alliances between armed groups, ongoing military operations, instability, insecurity, banditry, and violence. Attacks against civilians and aid organisations are rising, making both the population and humanitarian aid workers increasingly vulnerable.   Rape, murder, kidnapping, and random acts of...
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DRC: Condition Still Critical

22 November 2011
DRC
Democratic Republic of Congo
Decades of conflict and a lack of government investment have made it hard for people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to access basic healthcare. Epidemics have spread unchecked and treatment of deadly diseases has been neglected. Eastern DRC context is still volatile, marked by shifting alliances between armed groups, ongoing military operations, instability, insecurity, banditry, and violence. Attacks against civilians and aid organisations are rising, making both the population and humanitarian aid workers increasingly vulnerable.   Click on the photo to view the slideshow "Day In Day Out: Delivering Basic Health Care in DRC   Rape, murder, kidnapping, and random acts of...
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MSF Frontline Reports: Fighting a deadly measles outbreak amid insecurity in Somalia

14 November 2011
Somalia, measles
measles outbreak in Somalia
Measles have hit the displaced population in and around Mogadishu especially hard. MSF teams are working to try to contain the disease despite significant challenges.
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G20 leaders should bail out global health with a financial transaction tax

31 October 2011
Five Lives
Five Lives: How a Financial Transaction Tax Could Support Global Health
The financial transaction tax (FTT), due to be discussed at this week’s G20 Summit in Cannes, could help save millions of lives if a percentage were allocated to global health, according to Five Lives, an issue brief released by the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF).   Read the briefing paper “We’ve seen through our work how key health interventions can change lives as well as the trajectory of pressing health needs,” said Dr Tido von Schoen-Angerer, Executive Director at MSF’s Access Campaign.  “It’s time global health got its bailout.”   A tax implemented on...
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Five Lives - How a Financial Transaction Tax Could Support Global Health

01 November 2011
Five Lives: How a Financial Transaction Tax Could Support Global Health
How a Financial Transaction Tax Could Support Global Health
‘5 Lives’ are the stories of people that MSF works with every day, whose health and lives often hang on a simple medical intervention. These personal experiences are a snapshot of the unnecessary suffering MSF medical staff see first-hand daily in places where people can’t get adequate medical care and that could be avoided with proper, sustainable funding and investment. We’re doctors and nurses, not bankers, but we can see how investing in real futures – like the futures of the people profiled here - will transform the lives of those made vulnerable through illness, and create a strong foundation for their families and their communities to build on. That’s why MSF supports calls to direct a small...
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by Dr. Radut.