1-11 | “We are extremely worried refugees are arriving to a camp that lacks essential services and that their basic needs will not be met.” Kiera Sargeant, former MSF medical coordinator in Sudan, describes MSF’s response to the refugee crisis on the Ethiopian border What is happening at the border between Sudan and Ethiopia? “In early November 2020, new arrivals from the Tigray region of Ethiopia
12-28 | Some communities in Hebron ‘Area C’ face challenges accessing basic healthcare due to administrative restrictions and lack of transportation. Women are particularly affected. More than half of the West Bank is under Area C designation, meaning it is under direct Israeli civil and military control, which among other things translates into barriers to access healthcare for the approximately 300,000 Palestinians that live in small dispersed communities.
12-18 | The year-long COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the life of every individual with varying degrees of disruption. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Hong Kong has been particularly concerned about people’s mental wellbeing after prolonged exposure to uncertainty, especially amongst vulnerable groups who might have difficulty in seeking help. A survey conducted jointly by MSF and the local organisation Uplifters, shows that 72% of the foreign domestic helpers who responded have experienced depression-related symptoms. 47% in the survey sought help from their fellow workers in Hong Kong.
11-27 | On November 4, Ethiopia’s prime minister ordered military action against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in the Tigray region, in northern Ethiopia, following an attack on a military base. The escalating conflict is already affecting hundreds of thousands of people, and it runs the risk of destabilizing other parts of the country and the region, with potentially catastrophic humanitarian consequences. On 7 November, the first wave of people from Ethiopia started to arrive in Sudan.
11-26 | Children and teenagers living with HIV are particularly vulnerable to stigmatisation and to the psychological burden of the disease, which often results in them struggling to follow anti-retroviral treatment. In Malawi, Médecins Sans Frontières’ “teen clubs” offer a safe space where younger patients have access to HIV care and follow-up, laboratory testing and psychological support, and where they can share their experience with their peers, some of whom have taken the role of mentors for the group.