5-6 | As the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is unfolding, our teams are working in more than 70 countries around the world, providing urgent medical care for people fleeing violence, mothers giving birth and children needing treatment for measles or malnutrition. From the conflict in Syria to the continued displacement of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, these are some of the crises we must not forget in the time of COVID-19.
4-5 | After more than a decade of armed conflict, outbreaks of severe malnutrition, malaria, measles and cholera, approximately 1.5 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Borno state now face the spectre of COVID-19.Many live in vastly overcrowded camps with poor water and sanitation facilities, limited supplies of hygiene essentials such as soap and water, and often no individual space at all.
3-4 | In 2018, an estimated 311,000 women died of cervical cancer. More than 85 per cent of those women lived in low- and middle-income countries. In the same year, 570,000 new cases were diagnosed.The inequality of cervical cancer is stark. In 42 countries it kills more women than any other cancer. Mortality is currently highest in Malawi, where Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders/MSF) has its most comprehensive programme, with Mali and Zimbabwe two more countries not far behind.Cervical cancer is preventable—and curable, if detected early.
2-20 | In a pink room decorated with white flowers at Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) Kutupalong field hospital in Bangladesh, a woman lies curled around her sleeping child. Next to her, a young mother cradles a baby whilst her other daughter plays with a balloon. Rows of beds stretch in either direction, mothers and children sitting or lying quietly in every one. It could be a peaceful scene, except for the intravenous lines snaking up from each child’s arm to a saline drip.
8-25 | People living in the north of the West Bank face a complex array of pressures: more than 50 years of Israel’s military occupation of the area, a poor economy, a conservative society at a time of transition – all of this can add up and increase the burden of mental health issues in the community. MSF is providing psychotherapy services in Nablus and Qalqiliya. While three of our psychologists in the project are local Palestinians, two are foreigners who do not speak Arabic.