News updates

Sri Lanka: Sick and wounded arrive at Vavuniya hospital

30 January 2009

On Jan. 29, 226 sick and wounded civilians, 51 of them children, were evacuated by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN from the Vanni district of Sri Lanka. Delays at the government checkpoint in Omanthai...

Gaza: Physical and psychological scars

30 January 2009

While many wounded people still require medical care, particularly surgical procedures or post-operative care, the population in the Gaza strip is also in need of social and psychological assistance. 

Twenty wounded have...

Sri Lanka: 250,000 civilians trapped in intense fighting

28 January 2009

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is very concerned for the safety of an estimated 250,000 people trapped in heavy fighting in the Vanni district of Sri Lanka. Hundreds of civilians are reported to have been wounded and killed...

Gaza: MSF expands surgical activities in Gaza City

27 January 2009

Specialized surgeries, post-op and pediatric care, mental health activities all increasing

South Darfur, Sudan: Fighting forces MSF to leave population without sufficient care

26 January 2009

MSF medical team hopes to return soon

DRC: Devastating attacks against civilians continue in eastern province

20 January 2009

More than three weeks after attacks on the towns of Faradje and Doruma in Haut-Uélé, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) combatants are continuing their devastating assaults against civilians....

Gaza: MSF medical activities increasing in wake of ceasefire

20 January 2009

The three Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) clinics in the Gaza Strip are now open and an MSF surgical team is working in Al Shifa hospital, while a mobile hospital is being set up to focus on patients who need further surgical...

Gaza: MSF medical team enters Gaza to reinforce aid operations

17 January 2009

A Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) surgical team and other personnel entered the Gaza Strip today to provide essential surgical services to people seriously wounded during the last three weeks of intense fighting between Israeli...

Gaza: Medical personnel unable to enter

14 January 2009

Daily pause in violence insufficient; other crossing points blocked and civilians remain trapped

Somalia: Wounded treated, people on the run after fighting in Galgaduud

13 January 2009

A new surge in fighting in the Galgaduud region of central Somalia has led to many casualties and forced thousands to flee. 

Following heavy fighting between two groups last Sunday, the Somali medical teams of humanitarian...

Gaza: health situation worsening for past year

12 January 2009

While the problems in the Palestinian healthcare sector have become even more striking as the present conflict with Israel intensifies and violence achieves crisis levels, these persistent problems predate the current episodes of...

Gaza update

10 January 2009

Security issues continue to complicate the situation in Gaza. The emergency medical organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) faces major problems in obtaining access to people wounded in the conflict. The security conditions...

Luis Encinas' Ebola Diary, DRC

08 January 2009

Luis Encinas is a nurse coordinating operations for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the Great Lakes region of Africa. Until the first week of January, he headed the MSF team fighting an epidemic of deadly Ebola hemorrhagic...

"Adapting our practices to respect dignity"

08 January 2009

Luis Encinas is a nurse coordinating operations for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the Great Lakes region of Africa. Until the first week of January, he headed the MSF team fighting an epidemic of deadly Ebola hemorrhagic...

Update: Ebola in Western Kasai, DRC

08 January 2009

As of Jan. 7, a total of 42 patients have been reported with suspected Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the province of Western Kasai, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Thirteen of these 42 patients have died. The epicentre of the...

Temporary halt to Gaza bombing

07 January 2009

A paltry response as extreme violence victimizes civilians

Critical care limited, some urgent needs unmet

05 January 2009

More than a week after air strikes started on the Gaza Strip and following the beginning of a land incursion by Israeli forces, surgical services in Gaza are overwhelmed. There is an urgent need for vascular surgeons in order to...