Testimonies

War in Sudan has put a strain on an already fragile health system. Dr Khalid Elsheikh Ahmedana reports on the situation in Khartoum, the country's capital.

MSF supported facilities continue to provide medical care in Sudan, in Kreinik, West Darfur, in Rokero, Central Darfur, in Um Rakuba and Tinedba, Gedaref state and in Damazin, Blue Nile State. In El Fasher, North Darfur State, the MSF supported hospital continues to receive large numbers of wounded people. The teams are working around the clock to treat the injured – 410 people have so far made it to the hospital for treatment, the only health facility operational in the city and around 55 conflict-related deaths have been recorded. MSF was also able to make donations of supplies in Khartoum.

Dr Ghazali Babiker, MSF's Sudan Country Representative, and his team in Khartoum donated supplies to a hospital that has received a large number of wounded since the fighting began on 15 April. This is the third donation we have been able to make since Sunday 23 April. However, while they were at the warehouse putting the supplies into the ambulance that would take them to the hospital, air strikes and shelling began, and they had to take cover until everything was finished. He narrates.

There is currently heavy fighting in El Fasher. We are still hearing gunfire from our compound as I speak. It is very unsafe because of the shooting and the shelling – there have been large numbers of civilian casualties.

Everywhere in the country, and especially in Khartoum, Darfur, North Kordofan and Gedaref states, our teams face serious challenges. Our premises in Nyala, South Darfur, have been looted – including one of our warehouses. In Khartoum, most teams are trapped by the ongoing heavy fighting and are unable to access warehouses to deliver vital medical supplies to hospitals. In Khartoum, even ambulances are being turned back. They are not being permitted to pass in order to retrieve the bodies of the dead from the streets – or to transport those who have been injured to hospital.

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.

Following an outbreak of violence in the provinces of Mai-Ndombe and Kwilu in August, MSF head of mission Alessandra Giudiceandrea spent several weeks in the region as part of MSF’s emergency response. She describes her shock at witnessing the aftermath of the violence, her frustration at the difficulties of mobilising other humanitarian organisations, and her unease at the security-based approach to resolving this crisis.

In early June, Chad’s government declared a malnutrition and food insecurity emergency. Médecins Sans Frontières teams treat children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Adré, in Ouaddaï Region near the border with Sudan.

MSF spoke with five Rohingya people living in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, to understand how they see their lives five years since being forcibly displaced from Myanmar. Representing the ages five, 15, 25, 45 and 65, together they span three generations of Rohingya living in the camps. They are all current or former patients of MSF.