Mali

MSF's Henry Gray explains how Malian refugees are suffering from hunger after fleeing to Mbera camp in Mauritania.

Conflict in Mali has driven nearly 70,000 refugees to Mbera camp in the Mauritanian desert, where appalling conditions and inadequate assistance are leading to severe malnutrition and deaths from preventable diseases.

Since the start of the conflict in Mali in January 2012, hundreds of thousands of people have fled to other locations inside the country or to neighboring countries.

As deadly clashes continue, MSF calls on all parties to the conflict in Mali to respect access to health care.

Despite appearances of relative calm in Mali, the emergency is not over in the country’s northern reaches.

Conflict in northern Mali is still forcing large numbers of people to flee their homeland, but the conditions in the camps where they are settling are themselves leading to disease and suffering.

MSF's Dr. Jose Bafoa explains how MSF is still trying to deliver care to as many people as possible in conflict-torn areas of Mali, particularly those who need malaria treatment.

MSF is working to treat and prevent tropical diseases, says Estrella Lasry, MSF Tropical Medicine Advisor. 

Three weeks after military operations began in northern Mali, MSF continues to provide lifesaving treatment in the areas of Mopti, Gao, Ansango, Konna, Douentza, and Timbuktu.

Johanne Sekkenes is MSF Head of Mission in Mali, which has been gripped by conflict for the past year, and where the risk of attack or kidnapping remains high in certain areas.

Rosa Crestani describes MSF's efforts to help Malians affected by recent armed conflict. Thousands have fled in recent days to Mauritania.

MSF field coordinator Ibrahim Ahmed describes the challenges faced by MSF teams in conflict-wracked Mali and provides an update on the situation in the towns of Douentza and Mopti.

Two weeks after military operations began in northern Mali, MSF continues to work in the regions of Mopti, Gao, and Timbuktu, and has gained access to Konna.

MSF is calling for medical and humanitarian access to the war-affected town of Konna in central Mali. The Malian military has closed all roads to Konna, according to MSF's Malik Allaouna.

As bombings and combat continue in multiple locations in Mali, MSF calls on all parties to the conflict to authorize humanitarian organizations to enter the area of Konna and to allow aid to be provided in all areas affected by fighting.

MSF is calling on all parties to the conflict in Mali to allow medical access to the population, Dr. Chibuza Okonta said in an interview from Bamako.

MSF's Greg Elder speaks about efforts to treat people wounded and displaced in the escalating armed conflict in Mali.

MSF's Rosa Crestani speaks about the need for all parties to the conflict in Mali to avoid harming civilians and medical facilities.

All parties to the conflict in Mali must avoid harming civilians and health structures, MSF announced today.

One year after the start of the political crisis in Mali, insecurity has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

Dr. Estrella Lasry reflects on a new strategy for treating malaria, a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people every year.

A large-scale malaria prevention program appears to be drastically reducing the number of new cases of the disease among young children during peak transmission season.

MSF nutrition experts Susan Shepherd and Stéphane Doyon discuss the need for long-term solutions to malnutrition in Africa's Sahel region. 

In spite of destabilizing conflict, MSF continues to work in Timbuktu and the surrounding region.

People displaced by conflict are fleeing Mali en masse—and settling in places already weakened by food insecurity.

Refugees from the West African country of Mali face insufficient levels of assistance in camps rife with disease and malnutrition where the looming rainy season will further complicate the deployment of aid. 

The fighting in Mali has left more than 60,000 people internally displaced, and a similar number have fled to Mauritania and neighboring countries. Camp Mbere, spread out over a surface area of some 570 km2 receives an average of 1,000 refugees per day, some days even more. According to the LWF representative, in mid-April the camp population was over 55,000, of which more than half were children.

This update details MSF's recent activities in Africa's Sahel region, where widespread malnutrition and water shortages are exacerbating the outbreaks of diseases like meningitis.

Access to food, water, and basic shelter continues to deteriorate for refugees from Mali in makeshift camps in a desert region of Burkina Faso. 

Increasing numbers of people from Mali are entering a refugee camp in neighboring Mauritania, where health and living conditions are already poor.

MSF is assisting Malian refugees driven from their homes by conflict and now seeking shelter in northern Burkina Faso, an area already struggling with resource shortages.

More than 28,000 Malian refugees fleeing conflict in northern Mali have been forced to seek refuge in Mauritania.

A camp of displaced Tuareg civilians was targeted by a Malian airstrike in the north of the country.

Close to 10,000 Malians have found refuge in the Tillabéry region in Niger after being displaced from their homes by violence.

In December, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) will support the national Ministries of Health of Niger and Mali to carry out meningitis vaccination campaigns using a new, low-cost, longer-lasting vaccine. This vaccine, which was recently endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO), is a major improvement over older meningitis vaccines and has the potential to save thousands of lives each year.

This month, in Mali and Niger, MSF will support the provision of a promising new vaccine that could prevent future outbreaks of the deadliest form of meningitis.

The Meningitis Vaccine Project was launched in 2001 with the main goal of creating an affordable vaccine that would respond to a specific meningitis strain that plagues Africa each year.

"With the extended protection offered by this vaccine, we can hopefully prevent the epidemics from taking place at all."

by Dr. Martin De Smet, Head of MSF's Working Group on Malaria

MSF health promoter Madinata Maiga arms people in southern Mali with the knowledge to fight malaria

MSF is providing treatment to those infected, and has launched a vaccination campaign for approximately 400,000 children between six months and 15 years of age.

In a new report launched today, MSF said many more lives can be saved if newer effective strategies to tackle malaria are more widely implemented. The report, titled "Full Prescription; better malaria treatment for more people, MSF’s experience,"describes the organization’s work in Sierra Leone, Chad and Mali, and shows that unnecessary deaths can be avoided with simple, affordable treatment and diagnostic tools available today.

The south of Mali, a marshy region crossed from west to east by the river Niger, is a breeding ground for the mosquitoes that carry malaria. The disease is omnipresent here, and children, the group most vulnerable to the parasite, are its main victims. Every child under five suffers from malaria at least once a year, and some catch it a second or even a third time over the course of a year. The medical needs associated with malaria are huge, but the health system does not respond proportionately.