On March 28, a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar, devastating the regions of Mandalay, Naypyidaw, Sagaingg and Shan State. As of April 8, official figures reported over 3,600 deaths, more than 5,000 people injured and an estimated 17 million individuals affected – many severely. Key infrastructure, including hospitals, roads and water systems, sustained […]
Read More… from Myanmar: MSF steps up response following devastating earthquake
We’re getting ready for what seems will be a long and intense emergency. The healthcare system has been severely impacted at multiple levels, with secondary care being particularly affected. Hospitals, including operating rooms, are non-functional—not only for emergency surgeries but also for essential procedures like cesarean sections. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are […]
Read More… from Myanmar: MSF warns of severe healthcare disruptions amid ongoing emergency
Since the 2021 military takeover of Myanmar, people across the country have faced relentless challenges. Clashes between armed groups have erupted countrywide, impacting people’s everyday lives. In this second part of this two-part series by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Rohingya people talk about the life-threatening humanitarian situation in Rakhine state, where fighting between […]
Since the military takeover in 2021, Myanmar has faced relentless challenges. Clashes between the military, armed groups and ethnic minority groups have erupted nationwide, with far-reaching consequences. “Before the 2021 military takeover, there were five tuberculosis (TB) laboratories, now, only one remains operational.” MSF staff member, Aung San TB Hospital in Yangon This series brings […]
Read More… from [Series] Living in Myanmar: “The day we lost everything”
This article was originally publishing on Globe and Mail. “It would be an honour if a bomb killed all of us together, so we don’t have to suffer anymore. Dying together is better than this suffering.” These were the heartbreaking words a Rohingya man shared with my Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) colleagues in […]
Read More… from Rohingya: “Dying together is better than this suffering”
As Rohingya become increasingly trapped by raging conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, those who cannot pay their way across the border into Bangladesh are being left without protection or assistance. “We heard explosions, gunfire and people screaming,” says Ruhul, describing the moment when his township, Buthidaung, was attacked on the evening of May 17. “My […]
Read More… from Rohingya: Trapped and forgotten; where can people seek safety?
Escalating numbers of Rohingya people with violence-related injuries have crossed the border into Bangladesh over the past week, says Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), indicating the worsening humanitarian crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. In the four days leading up to Aug. 7, MSF teams in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, treated 39 people for violence-related injuries. […]
Read More… from Bangladesh: MSF sees severe spike in arrivals of war-wounded Rohingya from Myanmar
This June 2024, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was forced to indefinitely suspend its medical humanitarian activities in northern Rakhine following the extreme escalation of conflict and burning down of MSF’s office in Buthidaung Township. While in some townships in the central part of Rakhine MSF has been able to maintain a minimum level […]
The extreme escalation of conflict, indiscriminate violence, and severe restrictions on humanitarian access in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, have forced Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to suspend its medical humanitarian activities in the townships of Rathedaung, Buthidaung and Maungdaw. MSF ran 14 mobile clinics in northern Rakhine providing essential medical services to all communities, […]
Read More… from Myanmar: MSF suspends its medical activities in northern Rakhine state
Nimrat Kaur, Project Coordinator for northern Rakhine, Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). She arrived in the project just before Cyclone Mocha hit last year on May 14, 2023 and has seen first-hand the challenges faced by people living there. Now leaving Myanmar, Nimrat wants to share her experience and that of her colleagues, […]
Read More… from Myanmar: “With township hospitals shut, where will people go?”