MSF in the media

Inner City Gazette: Expo on plight of migrants

10 May 2012

Solidarity for Survival, migrants, refugees, expo, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Congo, MSF

Suitcase display at MSF's Solidarity for Survival exhibition. Photo: MSF

Exhibition inspires action to aid vulnerable migrants. Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) South Africa opened a dynamic and thought provoking exhibition titled Solidarity for Survival. In a press statement MSF says the exhibition brings attention on the plight of thousands of people who survive displacement and migration; and come to South Africa in the face of discrimination and healthcare exclusion... Read full article below.

Daily Dispatch: Patients and doctors fear arrest in Syria

16 May 2012

Syria, MSF, Doctors without borders, Homs, Idlib, attack, surgery,authorization

Hospital with a makeshit operating theatre in Idlib governorate. Photo: MSF

PEOPLE wounded in the crackdown on dissent in Syria, as well as medical personnel trying to treat them, risk arrest and even torture. Aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) doctors, after failing to get permission to work in the country, entered clandestinely and managed to reach the rebel strongholds of Horns and Idlib, where "patients and medical personnel are hunted down and run the risk of being arrested and tortured," MSF official Dounia Dekhili told reporters yesterday. ..."According to Syrian doctors, it is at least as dangerous to be caught caring for the wounded as being caught with a weapon in your hand," an MSF surgeon who was part of the trip told reporters. Read full article below.

Mail & Guardian: Section27, TAC join big pharma bust-up over cancer drug

15 May 2012

A patient receives an intravenous drip. Photo: Mail & Guardian

The TAC and Section 27 have joined the fray in a face-off between Aventis Pharma and Cipla Life Sciences in a patent war over cancer drug Docetaxel. The case is of interest to healthcare lobbyists because it could advance patients’ right to access affordable medicines. ...Mara Kardas-Nelson, access and innovation officer for Médicins Sans Frontiéres in South Africa, said the case could set a precedent in South Africa as the court was being asked to look at patent law through the lens of the public’s right to healthcare. A ruling to this effect would be in line with the World Trade Organisation’s 2001 Doha declaration, which allows developing countries flexibility in interpreting trade-related aspects...

Platinum Weekly: MSF raising awareness in Rustenburg

18 May 2012

MSF, face to face, fundraising, doctors without borders, Rustenburg, awareness

The team for MSF face-to-face fundraisering in Rustenburg. Photo: MSF

A team of MSF face-to-face fundraisers from Doctors without Borders visited the Waterfall Mall from 15-19 may 2012 to specifically raise awareness regarding the humanitarian work they do all over the world. ...“The support in Rustenburg has been overwhelming; people showed an interest in our projects, especially those in Khayelitsha and Musina”, Brett Sandler said. Read full article below

Business Report (The Star): Nigeria gold rush 'dooms children'

11 May 2012

Nigeria, Zampfara, gold rush, MSF, lead poisoning, mining, children

Na”ima Sirajo, a three year and nine month old girl suffering from long term effects of lead poisoning. When she is happy she moves her tongue. When she is upset she screams. One of her eyes seems to have gone blind. Photo: Olga Overbeek

A GOLD rush in northern Nigeria risked exposing tens of thousands of children to lead poisoning in what might already be the worst such crisis in history, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MS F) said this week. ...According to the aid group, when miners return to their villages, or grind ore near their homes, they spread leadrich dust into houses and the ground on which children crawl, resulting in them eating the lead as they have more handto-mouth activity than adults. "We are looking at the possibility of eventually more of the lead working its way into the aquifers, into the wells, into the water systems," said Ivan Gayton, a country director for MSF... Read full article below

The Star: Fund to fight disease open for business again

11 May 2012

Global fund, MSF, South Africa, HIV, AIDS, TB, Malaria

HIV activists marching to the US Consulate in Sandton. Photo: MSF

THE GLOBAL Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria estimates that more than $1.6 billion (R12.7bn) in additional funding will be available in the next two years. ..."It's very good news that the Global Fund is reopening for business. Now we can stop wasting time, which is the most precious resource in this fight against HIV, TB and malaria, because wasting time is wasting lives. The new funding window at the Global Fund needs to be opened as soon as possible, be as big as possible, and be open to all affected countries to support treatment scale up. Now is not the time to be conservative and keep money in the bank that could go toward getting life-saving pills into people's bodies," said Sharonann Lynch, the HIV/...

Sandton Magazine: Heal the world

01 April 2012

Dr Prinitha Pillay in South Sudan. Photo:Jens Windahl Pedersen

lt's true that dynamite comes in small packages. Dr Prinitha Pillar is a petite woman with a big heart, travelling to places like Sudan, Libya, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, India and Sierra Ieone to all those in need or medical care. She can spend a year at a time without hot water or a proper toilet, but it's a dedication she has made as a doctor and a South African, determined to LISC her voice to catalyse change in a big way too... ... Dr Prinitha Pillay says "Being a doctor, seeing patients with I IIV who are willing to stand up for what they need and what they want and to use that kind of civic agency, willing to make their own contribution instead of waiting for help, is what makes me proudly South African." Read full...

The Times: Book about hope keeps TB sufferer going

02 May 2012

Phumeza, Tisile, XDR-TB, Khayelitsha, MSF, extreme drug resistant tuberculosis

Phumeza is 21 years old and is currently confined to a bed in a tuberculosis (TB) care centre in Khayelitsha near Cape Town, South Africa. Photo: Samantha Reinders

PHUMEZA Tisile's favourite book, Redeeming Love, is about hope because that is what helps her get out of bed each day. The 21-year-old Khayelitsha resident has extremely drug-resistant TB, known as XDR-TB, and none of the medicines she has taken since her diagnosis in 2010 has been effective... Read full article below

The Times: Life-saving drug on hold

30 April 2012

XDR-TB, extreme drug resistant TB, MSF, MCC, TMC 207, turberculosis

XDR-TB survivor and peer counselor, Xoliswa Hermanus, helps a family member fit a mask to prevent TB infection during a home visit and group counseling session. Her mother, Jonas Cikizwa, is a woman infected with extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), HIV and diabetes. Photo: Jose Cendon.

Squabble over TB drug medical council prohibits use of Bedaquiline on critically ill TB patients. A drug with the potential to save the lives of drug-resistant TB suffers has been withheld until all clinical trials are completed. Despite a request by non-government organisations for the drug to be made available for compassionate use, the Medicines Control Council has refused. ...Medicins Sans Frontieres' advocacy officer, Mara Kardas-Nelson, said: "We're not trying to use Bedaquiline across the board but we want to use it for patients who have no other option." Read full article below.

The Guardian: Malaria cases surge in Democratic Republic of the Congo

24 April 2012

Nurse Victor (front) works with two staff from the local hospital in the village of Ntondo, Equateur provincen, in a mobile clinic to screen people for malaria. Photo: Gijs Van Gassen

Malaria cases have increased dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, leaving clinics and treatment centres unable to cope, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned... "Treatment outside the cities remains especially weak, due to unaffordability or geographic inaccessibility," said Dr Jorgen Stassijns, a malaria specialist for MSF. "In some areas, healthcare is simply non-existent. Even when treatment is available, the drugs are sometimes inadequate or outdated."... Read full article here

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