Between humanitarian crises and medical emergencies: all the latest news

Catastrophic flooding began in June, and the situation remains an emergency, with critical humanitarian needs. The current response is inadequate. The basic needs of people living in the worst flood affected areas such as access to essential food assistance, healthcare and safe drinking water, remain unmet.

After months of continuous restrictions placed on the female population of Afghanistan, limitations placed on their participation in everyday life, access to education, and most recently even the right to work for non-governmental organisations, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) strongly condemns the Islamic Emirate’s erasure of women from social life in the country.

As tens of thousands of people have returned to the town of Mocímboa da Praia over the past months, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has established a medical project to assist vulnerable groups in the northern Mozambican district.

Dozens of people attempting to seek refuge in the European Union continue to be pushed back at the Lithuanian and Latvian borders with Belarus - and left to languish in the forest for up to several weeks, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today. MSF calls on the Lithuanian and Latvian authorities stop all border pushbacks, which only serve to traumatize migrants and cause serious injuries, denying people the right to seek safety.

Lebanon is battling its first outbreak of cholera in three decades. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) provides hygiene kits, vaccinations, oral rehydration points, in the Bekaa valley, north and northeast of the country areas with the highest number of confirmed cases in addition to medical care in two cholera treatment centers in Bekaa Valley.

Malnutrition is a persistent risk to children in Yemen. The country sees seasonal and annual peaks, usually linked to the lean season caused by the disruption of agricultural production in rural areas. This pattern was seen before the escalation of the war in late 2014, but it has worsened due to the direct and indirect effects of the ongoing conflict, which have exacerbated food insecurity for already vulnerable people.

Major floods have hit central and southern Chad since mid-August, with the latest floods affecting the capital, N’Djamena, where rivers have burst their banks and whole neighbourhoods have been left underwater.

While Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams in the Democratic republic of Congo (DRC) have been involved in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention activities since the mid-1990s, the first MSF treatment centre opened its doors back in 2002 in Kinshasa.

Earlier this year Dr Darren Pezzack, an Australian advanced trainee emergency registrar, was part of the very first Médecins Sans Frontières’ team to work in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati.

Currently, around 50 people are detained in two Latvian Immigration Detention Centers (IDCs), managed by the State Border Guard Service (SBGS). Those detained are vulnerable people, including survivors of torture or sexual violence, children and pregnant women.