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COVID-19

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COVID-19

COVID-19 is a new viral disease that affects the respiratory system

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on 11 March 2020.

As COVID-19 has spread, MSF teams are racing to respond to the pandemic in the more than 70 countries in which we run programmes, while opening projects in new countries as they become pandemic hotspots.

Our COVID-19 response focuses on three main priorities:

  • Supporting health authorities to provide care for patients with COVID-19 
  • Protecting people who are vulnerable and at risk 
  • Keeping essential medical services running
Dr Ibie Mohammed
Ibie Mohammed
Doctor
COVID-19 in Baghdad: “Beauty and the beast“
Everything you think you know about Iraq is wrong. Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) doctor Ibie Mohammed looks back on six weeks in the COVID-struck country that’s full of surprises…
23 Oct 2020 / 5 minute read
Dr Ibie Mohammed
Ibie Mohammed
Doctor
“May your hand thrive!”: Treating COVID-19 in Iraq
At Al-Kindy teaching hospital in Iraq, the MSF team supports the COVID-19 ward. For one patient, this had life-changing consequences. Dr Ibie Mohammed shares the story…
15 Oct 2020 / 5 minute read
Dr Ibie Mohammed
Ibie Mohammed
Doctor
“Collateral Beauty”: Emergency and emerging humanity in the COVID ICU
When a COVID patient’s oxygen levels start dropping rapidly in Baghdad, Dr Ibie Mohammed and the team have to think fast to save a life…
06 Oct 2020 / 6 minute read
Children play the COVID-19 ludo game
Seinn Seinn Min, MSF health promoter
Seinn Seinn Min
Health Promoter
Beating the snake: COVID-19 health promotion in Pakistan
With a COVID-19 lockdown in place, Seinn Seinn and the team have to find new ways to reach the community. But as she explains, necessity truly is "the mother of invention"…
14 Sep 2020 / 7 minute read
Thomas Briand
Financial and Human Resources Coordinator
Yemen: The added layer of COVID-19
For my first mission, I would not have imagined finding myself trying to look into the eyes of the worst pandemic in recent years, in a country considered to be the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
20 Aug 2020 / 16 minute read
Ayla Emmink is an MSF doctor from the Netherlands
Ayla Emmink
Doctor
Another goodbye
COVID-19 travel restrictions mean that many of our key medical and logistical staff aren't able to reach the projects where they're desperately needed. But what does that mean for teams on the ground? Dr Ayla blogs...
14 Aug 2020 / 4 minute read
Hameed Hilal - MSF health promoter
Hameed Hilal
Health Promoter
Camp life in the time of COVID-19
Three years after his family fled Islamic State violence for the safety of a displacement camp, MSF health promoter Hameed shares how the arrival of COVID-19 in Iraq has forced many families to make more difficult choices
06 Aug 2020 / 7 minute read
Ayla Emmick outside the MSF hospital in Bentiu
Ayla Emmink is an MSF doctor from the Netherlands
Ayla Emmink
Doctor
COVID-19 in South Sudan: "We can do this, together"
What's it like to wait for a pandemic to hit your hospital? As they make all the preparations they can, Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) doctor Ayla writes from remote Bentiu, in South Sudan...
01 Aug 2020 / 2 minute read
Eben and the MSF team at Eshowe, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Eben van Tonder
Field Administration
South Africa: So much for taking a break…
Eben was ready for a good break from his work with MSF. The COVID-19 pandemic had other ideas...
30 Jul 2020 / 5 minute read
Maura Emelina Lainez Vaquiz - MSF doctor
Maura Emelina Lainez Vaquiz
Doctor
The power we have over our bodies: How COVID-19 is affecting family planning in Honduras
For women and girls living in the city of Choloma, widespread violence and poverty mean that access to family planning services is absolutely critical. However, COVID-19 restrictions have closed clinics and cut off vulnerable patients. MSF doctor Maura shares this powerful and passionate report.
20 Jul 2020 / 7 minute read
Ayla Emmink is an MSF doctor from the Netherlands
Ayla Emmink
Doctor
COVID-19 in South Sudan: Waiting for the wave - Part 2
As the pandemic disrupts medical supplies and staff, doctor Ayla Emmink is relocated from her rural project to a vast UN displacement camp – where our teams are racing to prepare for the arrival of COVID-19
16 Jul 2020 / 7 minute read
Ayla Emmink is an MSF doctor from the Netherlands
Ayla Emmink
Doctor
COVID-19 in South Sudan: Waiting for the wave - Part 1
As the pandemic disrupts medical supplies and staff, doctor Ayla Emmink is relocated from her rural project to a vast UN displacement camp – where our teams are racing to prepare for the arrival of COVID-19
14 Jul 2020 / 7 minute read

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Florian Lems/MSF
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