5-4 | The COVID-19 vaccine Humanitarian Buffer (HB) is failing its mission to support people hit by the pandemic and struggling to access immunisation, says Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The HB is part of the COVAX mechanism*, whose aim is to assist groups of people who do not have access to COVID-19 vaccination in situations of humanitarian emergency. However, MSF’s recent experience in northern Syria has highlighted the system’s limitations and ultimate failure to fulfil its purpose.
4-21 | Each year thousands of Palestinians suffer from conflict-related violence. In 2021 alone, Israeli forces and settlers injured more than 18,300 people across Palestine. To improve the capacity of Palestinians to respond to people’s medical needs, teams from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have trained community volunteers in first aid, trained hospital staff in dealing with mass casualty events, and donated drugs to major hospitals across Palestine.
4-6 | Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is suspending its medical and humanitarian activities in the Southwest region of Cameroon as it calls for the release of four staff members who have been unjustly detained for months.
3-18 | Flashquote by MSF-Spain president Paula Gil: “Today, March 17, The New York Times published an investigation into the killings of our colleagues María Hernández, Tedros Gebremariam, and Yohannes Halefom in Tigray, Ethiopia, on June 24, 2021.
3-7 | Following the soul-wrenching reports we received from trapped Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff in Mariupol, Ukraine, we are closely following the ongoing reports about an agreement for safe passage of civilians this weekend.
It is vital that such opportunities for civilians to escape from areas of violent warfare are not one-off and time-limited offers. At MSF, we know how dangerous this can be for civilians who are not able or willing to leave, including medical staff that choose to remain to take care of sick and wounded people.