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What we do

MSF nurse Josiane Wonzou stabilizes a patient in the sorting room of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Communautaire (CHUC) of Bangui, in the Central African Republic, where MSF runs the advanced HIV unit. “I really like this work and I want to be by the side of these sick people that have no hope left,” says Josiane. “People think that for them it is already over, they think they are abandoned. But there is hope.”

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) doctors, nurses, logisticians, project managers and many other professionals work together to deliver critical healthcare to people facing crises in more than 75 countries around the world. 

Our work includes emergency medical response for:

(L) Titie Tshikanda, Educational Counselor and (R) Dr. Gisele Mucinya, Medical Officer exchange with patients during a sensitization campaign that provides public awareness to patients living with HIV while providing different strategies for community-based care and detailed treatment for HIV/AIDS, STIs, and TB that encourage more patients to be on treatment earlier or adhere to treatment in the long-term.

Advocacy

See some of the main areas where MSF believes action can make a difference and help deliver essential medical care.

Asylbaeva Perizat, MSF psychologist, 45 yo. I am working for the first time with MSF, earlier I worked in many organizations and projects. I have an experience in an emergency project for Dacha-suu (accident with airplane crush on village, many people died, we were working on rehabilitation of the affected population. At first we worked with the MSF in Batken with the displaced population in a hotel and schools. After the displaced population began to be sent to their villages, we moved our activities in the affected villages and tent camps. Basically, people here are worried about high level of anxiety, there are flashbacks in the form of sounds of shots, mortars. People do not sleep well, they have constant fear and anxiety. Many people have high blood pressure, headaches and severe irritability in the context of stress. People are constantly in a state of hypervigilance and a constant readiness to run if there is treat. They sleep shallowly, restlessly, if there is little rustle or sound, they immediately wake up. They have nightmares in a form of dead pets and burnt property. We are not only providing psychological assistance, but if there is an opportunity, then social assistance. For example, there are several cases when we provided targeted help. One woman did not have the finances to visit her children, for many years she did not see them. I found a fund that paid for her travel to Bishkek, to see her kids. Another woman lost all the money that her children had earned a saved through hard work and over the years, about 3 million soms in cash, children saved this money, working without rest in Russia in order to build a new house in their homeland and it was simply burnt in a matter of minutes, her house was also destroyed. Lately she has thoughts about suicide: she is experiencing anxiety and depression that she could not save the money of her children. Uch-Dobo family medical center, Batken Oblast, Kyrgyzstan.

Issues in focus

Learn about some of the humanitarian crises and topics of concern to us today.