Ulyosh is a Scientific Secretary for an art gallery in Uzbekistan. She was diagnose with tuberculosis (TB) in 2008 – her first day of treatment was on World TB Day. She was shocked when she found out what she thought was a common cold was actually TB. Treatment, luckily, was not difficult for her. She said, “from the very beginning, I told the disease: I will conquer you – you will not conquer me!”
TB is not only a physical condition, but it also takes a toll on one’s mental state. the side effects from treatment are extremely challenging to face, with a series of ups and downs. Sometimes it’s easy – sometimes, it’s very hard. This is where the mental challenges step in: trying to remain positive through adversity.
Ulyosh made it routine to drink lots of water and go for long walks. She also read literature on how to think positively and reach your goals in life. Although she went through many ups and downs in treatment, she realized that treatment is just a time in your life, it’s not forever. Unfortunately, her husband left her and her family was ashamed of her. Despite that, only her real friends stood by her side. She recounts that, “during the period, I found out who my real friends were.”
All illustrations © Ulyosh
Nine-year-old Abdul lies on a bed in a hospital ward, watched over by his older brother, after being injured by a barrel bomb while playing outside his home in besieged east Aleppo. When he regained consciousness, he had lost his memory.
He needs a CT scan, but the equipment is not available, and he cannot be referred elsewhere for specialized care because all roads leading out of the city are blocked.
Meet 16 year old Sinethemba.
Her mother passed away when she was six months old and she was given to the care of her aunt. Last December, her aunt passed away, as well. She now lives with her grandmother and four other family members in Khayelitsha, Western Cape, South Africa.
At the funeral of her late aunt, Sinethemba was visibly ill – thin, weak, pale, high temperature, always sleeping. Her health was deteriorating at alarming rates and if she did not leave the Port Elizabeth area (where she lived with her aunt), she would not survive. This was when her grandmother, Vuyisiwa, took her in to care for her. On December 12th, 2015, Sinethemba went through a series of tests and was diagnosed with multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). In February 2016, MSF introduced a new treatment drug to her called delamanid: a drug not usually available for TB patients in South Africa.
After a month on her new drug regimen, she was singing, dancing, and enjoying the improvements of her health. When she went for her last X-ray, doctors found no signs of TB in her chest. Vuyisiwa says, “If people got this drug, they could really control DR-TB. TB is a giant, but not a killer. TB can be cured.”
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is a medical humanitarian organization working in more than 60 countries around the world. Find out more at doctorswithoutborders.org.
Watch the full video at https://vimeo.com/179073713
The Ebola outbreak that affected more than 28,000 people in West Africa is over, but the long-term impact is still felt and MSF is still responding to its aftermath. MSF nurse Carissa Guild has been involved in the Ebola response since 2014. She speaks about the lasting impact that Ebola has left in the West African region.
Watch the full video at https://youtu.be/I7EWNaaav0U
A boat full of refugees trying to get to Europe is capsizing in the Mediterranean - a couple is trapped inside. They give their baby to a young relative who makes a brave decision to throw the baby to MSF rescuers.
Kim Clausen is one of our tour guides traveling with the Forced From Home refugee exhibit in the United States. He recounts the story of a baby being thrown into his arms during a desperate situation.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, which struck Haiti on October 4th, four teams from MSF are assessing the needs at medical facilities and affected communities in five departments of the country: Grande Anse, Sud, Nippes, Artibonite and Nord-Ouest.
Access to the affected areas is difficult and the full scale and nature of the needs have yet to be determined. Haitian officials report a death toll in the hundreds that continues to rise. The risk of cholera is very high in affected areas.
The Road To Vaccination
Organizing a successful mass vaccination takes much more than just providing a vaccine to those in need. In the contexts where MSF traditionally works, infrastructures are often weak, especially in terms of mass communication. In these instances, how to make sure that people know that the service exists, that they should seek care, and that they know where they can find it?
In August 2016, MSF participated to one of the largest ever yellow fever vaccination campaign to take place in Africa: over 10 million people were vaccinated in the Democratic Republic of Congo within a short 10 days. MSF managed the campaign in three neighborhoods of the sprawling megalopolis of Kinshasa, reaching 710.000 people vaccinated against yellow fever – an excellent vaccination cover of 95% of the population in those areas. This required the dedication of the health promotion team, mostly national Congolese staff, who tirelessly crisscrossed the dense city to convince people to get their shots.
MSF Ships Rescue Nearly 2,000 People in One Day on the Mediterranean
On October 3rd, MSF rescue teams on board the ships Bourbon Argos, Dignity I, and Aquarius (in partnership with humanitarian organization SOS MEDITERRANEE) rescued nearly 2,000 men, women, and children from 11 separate boats in under seven hours on the Mediterranean.
Since April 21st, since MSF’s search and rescue operations began for 2016, the rescue teams on board the three ships have rescued 14,547 people in more than 100 different rescue operations. MSF continues to stress that although search and rescue lifesaving is essential, the only way to truly stop deaths at sea is to provide safe and legal alternatives to dangerous sea crossings.
One year after the bombing of an MSF hospital in Kunduz, patient administration officer Faizullah recounts his experience.
Dr. Joanne Liu Addresses United Nations Security Council Regarding Hospital Attacks
“In short, make your resolution operational. Stop bombing hospitals. Stop bombing health workers. Stop bombing patients.”
Presenting in front of the United Nations Security Council, Dr. Joanne Liu, International President of Medecins Sans Frontieres, addresses a string of attacks and bombings that have destroyed MSF hospitals, as well as various other facilities.
Direct Statement: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/article/dr-joanne-liu-addresses-united-nations-security-council-regarding-hospital-attacks
Bombing in Aleppo: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/article/aleppo-two-surgical-hospitals-bombed-only-two-others-left-besieged-city
MSF Communications Officer Charlotte Morris spent two weeks in the Bokoro region of Chad, 300km east of the nation’s capital, N’djamena. She was there to gather interviews, photos, and video that MSF can use to communicate with the public about the malnutrition crisis in the country. Whilst there, she noted the increasing number of cases related to malnutrition, specifically among children under the age of five.
When Charlotte first arrived to visit an outpatient clinic, she was overwhelmed by roughly 400-500 mothers, all with malnourished babies. She was ready to begin conducting interviews with the young mothers about the crisis. Understandably, many mothers did not want to speak to Charlotte, for various reasons. Until she met Hawa.
At 29 years old, Hawa was visiting the clinic because her seven months old daughter, Mikaela, was extremely malnourished and had a respiratory illness. She decided to visit the MSF clinic because she was told that there were people there giving out ‘Plumpy Nut’, in addition to helping Mikaela with her health problems.The good news for Hawa was that Mikaela was now better. Her respiratory infection cleared, she no longer had diarrhea, and she gained enough weight to be discharged from the clinic. Unfortunately, many children were not so lucky.
Many of the children’s health was so bad, that they needed to be moved to outpatient clinics, anywhere from a half and hour to three hours away. To Charlotte, it was shocking to see so many others who had sick children, refuse care. However, many of these young mothers have seen some kids recover by themselves, so they did not need outpatient. Additionally, these mother, often times, have other children at home to take care off, so the time and distance commitments seemed all too yielding.
By the end of her two weeks, it was clear to Charlotte that the malnutrition crisis in Chad is not a one-off emergency, it’s chronic.These cases are not only caused by lack of food due to harsh conditions, but also lack of education as to what to feed the children and the importance of hygiene. Overshadowing all of that, there are various cultural practices that can make vulnerable, malnourished children more ill.
It’s a huge challenge for MSG to attempt to tackle, but if it were not for the perseverance of the MSF staff and the resilience of mothers and their children, this crisis would certainly worsen. As someone said to Charlotte while she was there, “you’ve got to be tough to live in Chad.”
A school group peers into a makeshift shelter at our #forcedfromhome Queens pop-up refugee exhibit–just one of the topics our experienced field workers guide visitors through. Next up: Battery Park in Manhattan. Photo: Edwin Torres
Meet 32-year-old Zara Abba.
Zara is from the capital of Chad, N’djamena. She has been at MSF’s intensive care unit in Bokoro for four days, caring for her granddaughter, two-year-old Katalma Moussa.
Zara was visiting Bokoro to pay respects to a family member who recently passed away, when her granddaughter suddenly fell ill.
Katalma has not put on any weight and is extremely weak to the point that it takes all of her energy just to swat flies from her face. Additionally, Zara had to stop taking her outside to play with the other children, due to her lack of energy. “She was always hungry and crying and it was like the milk we were giving her wasn’t enough. I looked after her for seven days at home but after that knew I had to get her to a clinic,” Zara explained. As soon as they arrived to the clinic, MSF doctors examined Katalma and gave her water and an injection. Since then, there has been a noticeable difference in her health, and she began to get her appetite back.
Zara is pleased to take the measures necessary to care for her granddaughter. “I would travel all the way to France for my children’s health,” she says. “so I have no problems staying here until Katalma gets better.” Although conditions are less than favorable, Zara realizes that she must endure these conditions if it means that her granddaughter will survive. She has given birth to 15 children before; seven of the children have passed away, and eight are still living. “Two of them were twins and they died on the same day they were born. The others, I don’t know why, it was God’s choice.”
Unfortunately, occurrences like these are very common in Chad. Women marry extremely young, and become pregnant very soon after giving birth. With high rates of malaria, poor hygiene, and lack of nutritious food, losing children is not unusual.
However through all of this, Zara is still optimistic about her remaining children and her grandchild. “Four of my children are married and the other four still live with me. All of them have gone to school and I hope they can achieve something with their lives. This is my daughter’s first child. She’s still in N’djamena but I’ve been speaking to her every day. She calls to ask about the health of her daughter. I say, ‘your daughter is getting better, and MSF have gone above and beyond to help your daughter. They’ve worked really hard.”
There are 300 beds inside Boost Hospital in Lashkar Gah, Helmand, Afghanistan. Plagued with violence and conflict during the month of August, this hospital has become the epicenter of medical care for the people in and surrounding the Helmand Province. Photojournalist Kadir van Lohuizen captures powerful photos of the patients who occupy these beds, the landscape of Afghanistan, and what we do to provide medical assistance. (Karim Van Lohuizen/Noor) http://bit.ly/2cDz5GU
- Page 1 of 198
- Next »