Testimonies
Cameroon
Remaining vigilant regarding epidemic risks present in the country
The efforts developed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in recent weeks risk overshadowing some of the health needs of the population.
Brazil
Covid-19: “We are concerned about the South”
Dr Jo Robays, coordinator of LuxOR, has just returned from a one-month mission with Médecins Sans Frontières to Brazil, one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus epidemic. It has already killed more than 75 000 people there.
Niger
“Simplifying isn’t as simple as it sounds!”
We talk to nutrition advisor Béatrice Mounier about simplifying the protocol for diagnosing and managing acute malnutrition in Niger.
Malawi
Tackling a silent woman-killer in Malawi
Cervical cancer kills over 2,300 women in Malawi every year, or two thirds of those who become infected with it, despite it being an easily preventable disease.
Palestine
“After more than a year my leg hasn’t healed yet. The pain never leaves me”
Between March 2018 and December 2019, 8,800 people were injured with live ammunitions by the Israeli army while attending the “Great March of Return”, along the fence separating Gaza from Israel. The threat of COVID-19 is making their excruciating recovery process even harder and longer.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Fighting an epidemic in a pandemic
Paediatric nurse Vera Schmitz was part of an MSF team that was vaccinating thousands of children against a deadly measles epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the shadow of a new threat from COVID-19.
Afghanistan
“As midwives in Afghanistan, we are the silent leaders of our country.”
Zahra Koochizad is the MSF midwife supervisor in the MSF maternity wing of Dasht-e-Barchi hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan. She was working on the maternity ward on 12 May 2020, the day of an attack by unknown assailants who killed 15 mothers and an MSF midwife. Here she explains why midwives in Afghanistan are so important, calling them the country's "silent leaders".
Afghanistan
“They came to kill the mothers” in Kabul maternity hospital attack
In the days following the attack on the MSF-supported Dasht-e-Barchi hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, it has become clear that what happened in Kabul on 12 May was a deliberate assault on a maternity hospital with the purpose of killing mothers in cold blood.
Eswatini
Responding to COVID-19 in a country already fighting a dual HIV/TB epidemic
Dr Bernhard Kerschberger, MSF Head of Mission in Eswatini, describes the challenges his team face responding to COVID-19 in a setting with high rates of HIV and TB, and how adapting care for patients is important to reduce the risk of exposure for the most vulnerable people.
Overwhelming, lonely, stressful – life in a COVID-19 unit in Geneva
Kathrine Zimmerman is a nurse who has worked in intensive care units at the Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève (HUG), the university teaching hospital in Geneva, Switzerland. She was seconded to work in the HUG's intensive care unit for patients with COVID-19 during March 2020, and shares with us her daily life during this unexpected emergency.