Press Room

Kutupalong, Bangladesh, June 18, 2009—Thousands of unregistered Rohingya refugees living in the Kutupalong makeshift camp, Bangladesh, are being forcibly displaced from their homes, in an act of intimidation and abuse by the local authorities. Read more »

Nairobi/Brussels, June 17, 2009 — After nine years of providing health care for the population in Bakool region, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has reached the regrettable conclusion that it does not have sufficient security to continue its work. This decision was MSF’s alone and the organization was not expelled by the authorities. MSF medical activities elsewhere in Somalia continue. Read more »

Johannesburg/Brussels/New York, June 2, 2009 – Violence, sexual abuse, harassment, appalling living conditions, and a serious lack of access to essential healthcare define the desperate lives of thousands of Zimbabweans in South Africa today, warned the international medical humanitarian aid organization, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Read more »

MSF denounces the growing pressure applied by Thailand’s army to force the 5,000 Hmong refugees living in Huai Nam Khao camp, in northern Thailand, to return to Laos. Increasingly restrictive measures have forced MSF to put a stop to its assistance activities after some four years of presence in the camp. Read more »

Barcelona/Geneva, New York, May, 19, 2009 – The World Health Organization (WHO) has cut short its annual health ministers meeting because of influenza A (H1N1) preparations and has postponed discussions about Chagas disease. Much needed progress in diagnosing and treating people for this neglected disease must not be further delayed, warned the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today. Read more »

Nairobi/Geneva/New York, May 18, 2009 – More than 270,000 refugees who have fled war in Somalia are facing such alarming shortages of food, water, and adequate shelter in severely overcrowded camps in northern Kenya that many are considering returning to the Somali war zone, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today. Read more »

Geneva/New York, May 15, 2009 – A new treatment option for sleeping sickness, a fatal disease that threatens 60 million people across sub-Saharan Africa, has been added to the Essential Medicines List (EML) of the World Health Organization (WHO). The inclusion of NECT (Nifurtimox-Eflornithine Combination Therapy) is based on an application submitted by the non-profit Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), supported by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and Epicentre, MSF’s epidemiological research center. Read more »

Islamabad/Brussels/New York, May 7, 2009 – The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has had to halt its emergency medical services in the Swat region of Pakistan and reduce activities in other areas affected by the current warfare. The organization was the only one supporting the hospital in Mingora and providing ambulance services in Swat. The reduction of MSF’s activities is a result of the general insecurity, in addition to a number of direct incidents against MSF itself. Read more »

Bangui/New York, April 30, 2009 — A new escalation of violence between the army and a rebel group in the north of Central African Republic (CAR), has forced, once again, thousands of people to flee their homes. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) estimates there could be around 8,000 newly displaced in the region of Kabo and Moyen Sido. They have sought refuge in the bush, where they live in particularly harsh conditions in the current rainy season, with no access to healthcare and out of reach of humanitarian aid. Read more »

Brussels/New York, April 28, 2009 – Two Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff, abducted on April 19 in the Bakool region of Somalia, were safely released today. Read more »

UNITAID and the Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) have just announced price reductions negotiated with generic companies for 41 adult and pediatric antiretroviral formulations to treat HIV/AIDS. This is welcome news which must be interpreted with caution, says international medical humanitarian organization, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Read more »

Amsterdam/Paris/New York, April 23, 2009 — The Dutch and French sections of MSF reiterate their grave concern for the patients left behind in Darfur and denounce the unacceptable conditions of their expulsion. Read more »

The dead were among a group who had departed two days prior from the port of Bosasso, Somalia, fleeing insecurity or extreme poverty on a smuggler’s boat. They were travelling in extremely harsh conditions across the Gulf of Aden to reach Yemen. Read more »

Over the last 36 hours, MSF surgeons, alongside Ministry of Health staff, have been working around the clock to treat more than 400 war-wounded patients who have arrived in Vavuniya hospital in the government-controlled area of northern Sri Lanka. Read more »

Port-au-Prince/Paris/Amsterdam/Brussels/New York, April 13, 2009 – As Haiti’s prime minister, the UN Secretary General, representatives from more than 30 donor countries, and multilateral agencies convene tomorrow in Washington, D.C., to fund strategies for Haiti’s future economic and social development, they must not neglect the country’s immediate public health crisis, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF calls on the Haitian government and international donors to immediately implement concrete measures to improve access to health care for the Haitian population. Read more »