Chagas: it's time to break the silence
Millions of people are infected with Chagas disease yet they do not know.
They can die in silence, without asking for help, without knowing why. An MSF specialty site focusing on Chagas
“We depend on access to affordable generic medicines like those produced in India to treat all kinds of diseases. We buy 80 percent of our AIDS medicines from India - medicines that keep 160,000 people alive today,” said Dr. Unni Karunakara, President of MSF’s International Council. “On their behalf, we cannot remain silent as Europe works to close the door on every aspect of drug supply – the production of a generic medicine, its registration, and its transportation to patients in other parts of the world. So today we are launching a campaign demanding Europe! HANDS OFF our medicine.”
What the Europeans are doing is effectively snatching the medicines out of our hands,” said Dr. Marius Müller, MSF’s Medical Coordinator in Kenya. “Because generic medicines are more affordable, we have been able to put more and more patients on AIDS medicines. This has meant a lot of hope for our patients who can work again, who can bring up their children again. But if Europe has its way and shuts off this source, we risk killing the success of what has been achieved here in the last five years.”
MSF statement on Global Fund replenishment outcome
Dr. Jennifer Cohn, MSF HIV/AIDS Policy Advisor said: “Today marks a sad turning point in the fight against AIDS, TB, and malaria: world leaders have officially under-financed the Global Fund. This decision will result in the death of millions of people from otherwise treatable diseases. Find out more...
Even before the floods, there was already a critical lack of maternal healthcare for expectant mothers living in Pakistan’s southern rural areas. Usually, women give birth at home in unhygienic conditions with the help of a private midwife (dai). Consequently infants are exposed to higher chances of deadly infections, and the floods have only worsened the situation. At the same time, the lack of knowledge and access to proper medical care during pregnancy means that thousands of women are at much higher risk of miscarriage and even dying during childbirth.
“Cholera is seasonal in Chad, and bigger outbreaks come in cycles,” said Alexis Bahati, medical team leader for MSF in Bokoro. “The fact that more people are getting sick with cholera now is probably related to the fact that the heavy rains and floods hit a population that was already weakened.
"There have been recent outbreaks of measles and high levels of malnutrition, so people’s immune systems are low – a typical scenario for cholera outbreaks.”
“Our team has witnessed the direct impact of these mass raids and expulsions on the medical condition and mental health of the migrants,” said Jorge Martin, MSF’s head of mission in Morocco.
During the past few weeks, MSF teams have seen an alarming increase in patients with medical problems related to incidents of violence. Of the 186 patients who have received medical care from MSF, 103 had lesions and injuries directly or indirectly linked to the violence during the arrests.
“For many diseases, we know what we need to do to save lives,” said Sophie Delaunay, executive director of MSF in the U.S. “Our field teams are using new tools and approaches to release children from the deadly grip of malnutrition and to ensure children are born free of HIV, but there is not enough funding for long-term, widespread implementation of effective health interventions. A financial levy for health, by providing a dedicated and predictable funding stream, could mean that patients’ lives are no longer at the mercy of volatile markets and political agendas.”
In Mozambique, there are fewer than five doctors per 100,000 people, and 11.5 percent of the adult population are living with HIV. In rural areas, health centres are few and far between. These dire circumstances caused MSF to recognise the need to make optimal use of the scarce resources that do exist and to empower patients to provide each other with support.
The model has also made it simpler for patients in remote areas to obtain their drugs, as they only have to pay for transport for the designated group leader.
Every year, the population of Niger is affected by a nutritional crisis that peaks between May and September. The scale of the crisis in 2010 is particularly worrying. More than 77,000 children with severe malnutrition have already been treated in the 69 nutritional centres supported by MSF and its partners.
“Prevention is about finding the best way of stopping children from becoming severely malnourished year after year, decreasing the medical, logistical and financial burdens that are created by the treatment of so many sick children,” said Dr. Susan Shepherd, Coordinator of MSF Nutritional working group.
“After the incident, 46 people reached our health centres, many with serious gunshot wounds,” said Alessandro Tuzza, MSF Head of Mission in Sudan. “Hundreds of families fled Tabarat area in fear, leaving everything behind. They urgently needed basic items for survival, such as shelter, as it’s now the rainy season in Darfur.”
The annual MSF publication covering all our work worldwide. This report refers to activities throughout 2009.
For Médecins Sans Frontières, an organisation that has specialised in responding to emergencies as well as working in fragile and unpredictable contexts, no two years are the same. There is of course the ongoing work carried out by our thousands of staff around the world, who provide healthcare where it’s lacking and deal with diseases that continue to take a high toll on populations. But over and beyond the more constant medical activity, each year brings new challenges to our organisation.
Two worrying developments stand out for 2009: the dwindling commitment of donor bodies for continuing the battle against HIV/ AIDS and a sharp increase of security incidents that affect our ability to bring assistance. In 2009, we started looking closely at the funding for HIV/AIDS in eight African countries. A clear pattern is starting to show of donor backtracking on earlier, widely publicised commitments to scale up the fight against the epidemic.
The effects on availability and level of care for those infected are becoming clear in countries where we work. In some countries where infection rates for HIV/AIDS are high, patients are turned away from clinics, and clinicians are once again being forced into the unacceptable position of rationing life-saving treatment. MSF will emphasise the unacceptable nature of this withdrawal in appropriate private and public forums throughout 2010.
27/07/2010
Emergency medicine doctors needed
MSF have emergency medicine programs in many countries across the world and dedicated to offering high quality emergency care to these populations. Our programs include: pre-hospital services, emergency departments and mass casualty management planning. Find out more...
Emergency anaesthetists, surgeons and gynaecologists needed
We offer fulltime contracts for one month (gynaecologists and anaesthetists) or eight weeks (surgeons). Find out more...
MSF doctors and nurses are often seen treating physical ailments: bandaging the war-wounded, rehydrating a cholera patient, performing an emergency cesarean section. But for more than 20 years, MSF has also been caring for patients’ mental health. Needs are high, and MSF continues to expand its mental health programs. Last year, MSF’s mental health teams performed more than 100,000 consultations worldwide.
Earlier this year, cases of lead poisoning in children and adults were confirmed in five villages in Zamfara state, northwestern Nigeria. The lead poisoning is a consequence of villagers practicing small-scale gold extraction from lead-containing ore. MSF is currently providing chelation therapy for the most vulnerable patients, mostly children, from three of the affected villages, and will continue to treat children in the coming months.
Have you ever seen someone so emaciated that you can see their heart beat? The heart, beating as though it wants to escape the chest, kept in place by only a thin layer of skin. Some might know the literal feeling, but have you ever seen it?
Starved for Attention: A Radical New Vision Of Malnutrition
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the VII Photo agency have launched “Starved for Attention,” a global multimedia campaign presenting a unique and new perspective of childhood malnutrition, a preventable and treatable condition that nonetheless claims the lives of millions of children each year. The campaign launch coincides with the onset of a particularly harsh “hunger gap” season in Africa’s Sahel region, the period when staple food crops run out before the next harvest and malnutrition typically increases.
The collaboration challenges established notions of malnutrition through a seven-part mini-documentary series that will be released over a seven-week period beginning today at: www.starvedforattention.org
Giulio di Sturco / VII
A daily photo blog focusing on MSF field activities, with emphasis on the particularly creative, arresting and visually engaging images. See more...
© Suraj Mishra
© MSF
© Niklas Bergstrand - A patient group leader is making a home visit to one of the members of her group. During every visit, she makes sure that the patients in the group are taking their drugs correctly and that their health is not deteriorating.
© Jean-François Herrera/MSF
© MSF (2009), Malta -
© © John Heeneman/MSF
