Testimonies
Kiribati
Life on a coral atoll
Earlier this year Dr Darren Pezzack, an Australian advanced trainee emergency registrar, was part of the very first Médecins Sans Frontières’ team to work in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Violence in Mai-Ndombe and Kwilu provinces (DRC)
Following an outbreak of violence in the provinces of Mai-Ndombe and Kwilu in August, MSF head of mission Alessandra Giudiceandrea spent several weeks in the region as part of MSF’s emergency response. She describes her shock at witnessing the aftermath of the violence, her frustration at the difficulties of mobilising other humanitarian organisations, and her unease at the security-based approach to resolving this crisis.
Chad
Chad: chronic crisis for malnourished children in Adré
In early June, Chad’s government declared a malnutrition and food insecurity emergency. Médecins Sans Frontières teams treat children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Adré, in Ouaddaï Region near the border with Sudan.
Bangladesh
5 years on: 5 Rohingya people talk
MSF spoke with five Rohingya people living in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, to understand how they see their lives five years since being forcibly displaced from Myanmar. Representing the ages five, 15, 25, 45 and 65, together they span three generations of Rohingya living in the camps. They are all current or former patients of MSF.
Malawi
Managing cervical cancer in a country with limited treatment options
Cervical cancer accounts for 37 per cent of new cancers in women in Malawi. Since 2018, MSF has been working to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer and bring down deaths from the disease in the districts of Blantyre and Chiradzulu. MSF head of mission Marion Péchayre explains how.
Central African Republic
“To be born or to give birth is to take a risk”
Archange was born at just 28 weeks and weighed 800 grams at birth. The baby was in a critical condition but fought for his life for 45 days in the neonatology intensive care unit supported by MSF in Bangui’s community university hospital, in the Central African Republic (CAR). The medical team were so impressed by his fight to survive that they nicknamed him "Little General”.
Mexico
Mexico: migrants exposed to violence cut off from healthcare
Around 30,000 migrants gather daily in Tapachula (Chiapas). They are a ‘floating population’, since thousands of people come in through this entry point every day in southern Mexico, and many others leave for the northern border.
Safe abortion care: “The safest way to help these women”
A midwife tells her story of the evolution of safe abortion care in MSF
Haiti
In Port-au-Prince “we’re surviving, not living”
Rosanberg, Ugo, Natalie and Morjorie all work in a Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Port-au-Prince. Caught in a downward spiral of extreme violence by armed groups, they describe daily life amid the chaos of Haiti’s capital city.
Panama
“We are tired and desperate”: Stories from families who survived the Darién Gap
In 2022, most migrants crossing the Darien Gap are Venezuelans—a shift from 2021, which saw a majority of Haitians risking the dangerous journey from Colombia to Panama.