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Emergency response

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Emergency response

In conflict zones, natural disasters and disease outbreaks, Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams respond fast in an emergency.

From conducting a complicated war surgery to project managing a vaccination campaign for 40,000 children, our staff has a wealth of experience and practical skills to provide health care, quickly, to those who need it most.

To ensure they have the equipment they need to start treating patients as quickly as possible, MSF has developed pre-packaged disaster kits. These include an obstetrics kit, a complete surgical theatre, and an inflatable hospital, all ready to go when an emergency hits. In addition to emergency response, MSF also runs longer term projects to provide day-to-day health care to communities who otherwise wouldn’t have access to it.

Carlo Brugiotti
Carlo Brugiotti
Surgeon
Responding to the injured in Jerusalem: “The patients kept on coming like waves”
On Friday, 15 April 2022, Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem and injured over 150 Palestinians, including children. Carlo Brugiotti, a trauma surgeon with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, was part of the medical team that assessed and stabilised the injured. Here, he reflects on what he saw that day.
16 May 2022 / 4 minute read
Dr Karry Jose Felix
Karry Jose Felix
Surgeon
Haiti: An assignment like no other
A fuel truck explodes. Dozens are injured or killed. MSF surgeon Karry Jose Felix explains how a dedicated medical team assembled to save lives in a country where a weak healthcare system and political and economic instability made the consequences of the explosion even more urgent...
26 Apr 2022 / 3 minute read
Nicolas Broca
Nicolas Broca
Nurse
From a natural disaster to urban violence: how this team adapts to care for patients in Haiti
A devastating earthquake, armed groups, political tensions, fuel shortages, COVID-19. These are the crises that people in Haiti's capital faced in the span of just a few months. Nurse Nicolas Broca writes...
13 Dec 2021 / 5 minute read
Abdalla Karim
Abdalla Karim
Field Administration
Nigeria: Mortars and pestles, lead and gold
Our staff are used to fighting epidemics. But not every outbreak is biological. Abdalla Karim shares the story of a community hit by a different kind of crisis, and the MSF team who worked with them to bring it under control.
15 Oct 2021 / 5 minute read
Michal Pospíšil and his team in Sudan
Michal Pospíšil MSF
Michal Pospíšil
Nurse
Five myths about working for MSF
Michal Pospíšil is a Czech nurse who recently returned from his first assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF), working in Sudan. In his blog, he challenges some of the most popular myths about working for MSF.
18 Sep 2018 / 6 minute read
Fadi and Annke at the Khan Younis Clinic
Annke Yssel
Nurse
Nursing in Gaza: “He was hit by a single bullet, passing through both his lower legs”
South African nurse Annke is currently on assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) near the border between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Here, she shares the story of a patient recovering from a gunshot injury he received during the “March of Return” demonstrations in May.
01 Aug 2018 / 3 minute read
Alexander Nyman
Doctor
Spear trauma in South Sudan
"Alex, there is an emergency in New Fangak. Stab wound in the back." 
06 Jun 2018 / 4 minute read
Vera Schmitz
Vera Schmitz
Nurse
Starting from scratch: an emergency response in the Democratic Republic of Congo
When thousands of people flee violence at home, they can find themselves without access to food, water or medical help. Vera Schmitz is an Austrian nurse who has just returned from Gbadolite, Democratic Republic of Congo, where she was part of an MSF / Doctors Without Borders emergency project to help a community with very limited resources...
10 Jan 2018 / 6 minute read
Ludvig Bolinder
Doctor
A doctor in DRC: The finish line
Ludvig has been sharing his diary from his recent posting with the PUC - the Pool d'Urgence Congo. The PUC are Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders' emergency team in Congo, moving fast to tackle crisis situations like disease outbreaks. This is Ludvig's final post...
19 Nov 2017 / 3 minute read
Ludvig Bolinder on a motorbike
Ludvig Bolinder
Doctor
A doctor in DRC: Bolomba, soon a memory
Ludvig has recently completed an assignment as part of MSF's emergency team in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He's shared his diary with us. Today's entry was written just a few days before he left the remote village of Bolomba, where he and the team had been fighting a dangerous outbreak of measles...
09 Nov 2017 / 3 minute read
Ludvig Bolinder
Doctor
A doctor in DRC: Arrival in Bolomba
Ludvig has recently completed an assignment as part of MSF's emergency team in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He's shared his diary with us. After a two-day journey by boat, he and the team have reached a region experiencing a dangerous measles outbreak...
27 Sep 2017 / 3 minute read
Ludvig Bolinder
Doctor
A doctor in DRC: Along the Ikelemb river
Ludvig has recently returned from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In this post, the emergency team are heading up river to reach an isolated community with an outbreak of measles, a highly contagious virus that can be deadly, especially for young children...
22 Sep 2017 / 2 minute read

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Florian Lems/MSF
Fieldset
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