A woman walks past building damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, Sunday, March 13, 2022. The surrounded southern city of Mariupol, where the war has produced some of the greatest human suffering, remained cut off despite earlier talks on creating aid or evacuation convoys.
Crisis Response

Conflict

More than one-third of our humanitarian and medical assistance is for people affected by armed conflict.
More than one-third of our humanitarian and medical assistance is for people affected by armed conflict.

Armed conflict devastates lives. Targeted, harassed and trapped within hardship and poverty; people are often forced into flight. In other cases, people live under siege or in constant fear of indiscriminate or even targeted attacks. In addition, people are often left impoverished without sufficient access to basic needs like food and medical care.
 
Comprehensive medical and humanitarian support is vital, but health services are often scarce. In conflict zones, we do not take sides.

We provide care based on needs alone and work to reach those who require medical attention, regardless of which side of the frontline they happen to be.

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Conflict and Health

Conflict and health

HOW DOES CONFLICT DAMAGE NATIONAL HEALTH?

Armed conflict causes injury, displacement and death. Even after the guns have fallen silent, conflict continues to affect people’s health.

It devastates essential health services, disrupts medical supplies, forces medical staff to flee and leaves health systems broken, so when deadly diseases arrive they’re even harder to fight.

For people caught up in violence or its aftermath, it is more important than ever to have access to healthcare, shelter, sanitation and food.

Midwife_iraq

Voices from the field

You can still see a lot of anger and pain in people’s eyes wherever you go. ABDULRAHMAN DHANNOON KHALEEL, MSF PROJECT COORDINATOR SUPPORT
IRAQ

Mosul: A city recovering from war

 
An MSF ambulance seen outside MSF compound gate in Dagahaley
Armed conflict

Our medics treat everyone, don’t punish them for that

Op-Ed 21 Oct 2021
 
MSF pediatrician Monica Costeira examining a patient who is visiting for a follow-up check-up at the neonatal unit of Al-Qanawis mother and child hospital in Hodeidah, Yemen.
Yemen

Overcoming barriers in accessing healthcare in war-torn Yemen

Fieldworkers Stories 20 Oct 2021
 
A tank moves towards the frontlines as people carry their belongings as they flee fighting on Monday, Oct. 27, 2008 near Kibumba in eastern Congo. Government forces are forced to retreat as they are being pushed closer to Goma by rebels of renegade Gen. Laurent Nkunda.
Armed conflict

Counter terrorism is “Adding salt to the wound” for MSF’s work in conflict

Press Release 19 Oct 2021
 
MSF, Doctors Without Borders, Central African Republic, crisis, Nzacko
Central African Republic

Return to Nzacko, a mirror of the Central African crisis

Patient and Staff Stories 8 Oct 2021
 
View on the mosque from the school of the mosque, now a room where three large families of IDPs sleep.
Central African Republic

The effects of the constant violence on people in Bambari

Patient and Staff Stories 8 Oct 2021
 
MSF, Doctors Without Borders, Ethiopia, Suspension of MSF activities
Access to Healthcare

Forced suspension of majority of MSF activities, amid enormous needs in Ethiopia

Press Release 10 Sep 2021