9-25 | A serious diphtheria outbreak is tearing through Nigeria, where thousands of people have been infected and hundreds more have died. With low national vaccination coverage and a worldwide shortage of lifesaving antitoxin threatening to worsen the outbreak, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) urges the international community to immediately scale up support to improve treatment, preventive measures and contact tracing to control the outbreak’s spread.
8-28 | Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are recording a concerning rise in measles and malnutrition cases in the organization’s facilities in South Sudan, particularly amongst returnees fleeing conflict from Sudan and host communities. MSF medical facilities in Upper Nile, Unity, Northern Bahr El Ghazal and Warrap states are receiving patients, especially children below five years old, suffering from measles and other critical conditions.
8-8 | In a parched landscape, an MSF tractor roars as it approaches a small village in Dentiuk, in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state. It is towing a trailer to which a creaking wooden canoe is strapped. “Are you sure we are in the right place?” asks the driver.“It might not look like it, but when the rains come, this whole area is seriously hit by flooding and the only way to get around is by boat,” says Jorge, MSF’s logistics team leader. “Luckily, the houses in this village are built on higher ground.”
7-18 | As malnutrition rates surge beyond emergency levels in many areas of Ethiopia, Médecins Sans Frontières calls for the immediate resumption of food distributions which were suspended across Ethiopia in early June 2023.More than 20 million people in Ethiopia rely heavily on food assistance, especially refugees and displaced people. Those most at risk include pregnant women, new mothers, children under five and people living with HIV.
7-4 | Following the shipwreck of 14 June which left up to 500 people dead or missing off the coast of Greece, Médecins Sans Frontieres denounces EU migration policies and calls for accountability over the lives lost and for a dedicated, proactive, state-led search and rescue mechanism at sea.“The lack of political will to ensure rescue capacity has contributed to the deadliest accident at sea recorded in the Mediterranean since 2015,” says Duccio Staderini, MSF head of mission for Greece and the Balkans.