Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) is the world's leading independent organisation for medical humanitarian aid.
Médecins Sans Frontières has projects in Afghanistan, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Chechnya, China, Colombia, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Ingushetia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Republic of Congo, Russian Federation, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Médecins Sans Frontières has projects in Afghanistan, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Chechnya, China, Colombia, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Ingushetia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Republic of Congo, Russian Federation, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
1.
What are
NGO’s?
A
C)
Research one project
in
detail
-
Aims
-
Who
is it helping?
-
How/costs
Democratic
Republic of Congo
In
the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, civilians have borne the brunt
of more than a decade of violent conflict. Villages have been pillaged and
destroyed, armed men have forced people to flee, and rape has been used as
a
tool of war. In 2010, thousands more people were displaced from their
homes by
violence. Throughout the country, decades of neglect of the health
system have
resulted in a rise in infant and maternal mortality rates and,
according to the
World Health Organization, life expectancy is among the
lowest in the world.
Providing
healthcare in conflict zones
The
project in DRC – in terms of
programmes, staff and budget – is Médecins Sans
Frontières’ biggest.
Teams
offer general and specialised
medical care in hospitals, health centres and
mobile clinics in various
provinces, including the capital city Kinshasa and the
wartorn east of the
country. In 2010, our staff carried out more than one
million medical
consultations, performed more than 10,000 surgeries and assisted
19,200
births. Staff treated patients for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, cholera,
haemorrhagic fevers, measles, malaria, sleeping sickness (human African
trypanosomiasis) and more. Teams carried out vaccination campaigns and
emergency
surgery, ran nutrition programmes and offered paediatric care.
Mental healthcare
was also offered, as well as women’s healthcare,
including specialised
assistance to victims of sexual violence.
After
three years of relative
stability in the Bunia region, Ituri province, Médecins
Sans Frontières
handed its activities in Bon Marché hospital over to the
Ministry of
Health. SOFEPADI, a Congolese non-governmental organisation that
specifically helps female victims of sexual violence, will take on
responsibility for the women’s health department. Teams provided care for 675
women in the six months before the handover process began.
In
other places, conflict
intensified, and poor infrastructure made accessing
remote areas even more
difficult. Around the town of Pinga in North Kivu, where
the community is
trapped by fighting across a constantly shifting front line,
teams used
motorbikes to hold mobile clinics and provide medical supplies. In
Hauts
Plateaux, a very isolated and mountainous part of South Kivu, teams walked
for up to six hours to reach displaced communities and carried out close to
13,800 medical consultations. Supplies can only reach Shabunda by cargo plane,
and our teams then used bicycles and motorbikes to bring medical care to
22,000
displaced people. In the Uélé area, in Orientale province,
insecurity means that
many displaced people can only be reached by plane.
Staff
at mobile clinics, health
centres and hospitals in Bunia, North and South Kivu,
and Haut-Uélé and
Bas-Uélé provided medical, psychological and social support
for almost
6,000 victims of sexual violence. In North Kivu, where it is
difficult to
reach the more remote settlements, we also trained a network of
women
counsellors to respond to the needs of victims of sexual violence and,
where necessary, to refer patients to the hospital for further care.
Rapid
response
units
In
the capital
Kinshasa, Kisangani in the north, Lubumbashi in the south and
Mbandaka in
the west of the country, our teams work closely with the Ministry of
Health
to monitor the epidemiological situation in DRC. Evaluation teams
investigate any claims of infectious disease outbreaks or other quick-onset
medical emergencies, and are prepared to respond within days. In 2010, the units
responded to ten crisis situations, including yellow fever and measles
outbreaks, and supplied emergency medical aid to people caught up in fighting in
Equateur Province.
Responding
to outbreaks of disease
Measles
epidemics occurred throughout the country in 2010. Médecins Sans
Frontières
teams vaccinated 2,700 children in Nyanzale, North Kivu, nearly
90,000 in the
Baraka area in South Kivu, 103,000 in Sakania, 40,000 in
Dilolo and 8,000 in
Bendera in Katanga province.
The
poor living conditions in
displaced persons camps and the lack of clean water
also facilitated the
spread of cholera in South Kivu in 2010. Médecins Sans
Frontières emergency
teams set up cholera treatment centres and treated more
than 1,600 patients
in Kabizo, Makobola, Minova, Mwenga and Shabunda. Our staff
supported the
response to cholera outbreaks in two displaced persons camps in
Kalemie,
Katanga province, providing case management expertise and medical
supplies.
Malaria
is among the leading causes
of illness and death in DRC. Our teams treated
27,000 patients in Katanga
province, 26,000 in North Kivu, and 19,000 in South
Kivu. Many were
children under five.
Haut-Uélé
and
Bas-Uélé are two of the areas in Africa most affected by sleeping sickness.
Our staff treated 829 patients for this deadly disease, which is transmitted to
humans through the bite of the tsetse fly.
Obstetric
fistula
surgery
In
Masisi
hospital in North Kivu, and in surgical “camps” in Shamwana and Manono in
Katanga, more than 130 operations were carried out on women suffering from
obstetric fistula. Fistulas are injuries to the birth canal which can occur as a
result of complications in childbirth or, occasionally, extreme sexual
violence,
and which can cause incontinence and crippling social stigma.
Specialised
emergency
burns intervention
In
July, Médecins Sans Frontières launched a specialised emergency intervention
when a fuel tanker crashed and exploded in Sange in South Kivu. More than
230
people died and 96 were seriously injured. Teams provided medical care
and
mental health support to 52 patients with severe burns in two hospitals
in the
region. Surgeons conducted skin grafting (a skin transplant that
encourages
rapid healing), and teams provided burns patients with
individual intensive
nursing care and physiotherapy.
HIV/AIDS
Teams
started more than 850 new
patients on antiretroviral treatment (ARV) in Médecins
Sans Frontières’
HIV/AIDS project in Centre Hospitalier de Kabinda in the centre
of Kinshasa
in 2010, bringing the total number of patients receiving the
medication
to 2,631.
Médecins
Sans
Frontières also began supplying medication, financial and technical
assistance to “Postes de Distribution”. These are community-based ARV
distribution points that give patients responsibility for their own care.
The centres were set up and are managed by people living with HIV/AIDS who
are
members of the Réseau National d'Organisations Assises Communautaire
(RNOAC), a
nationwide patient support group.
Médecins
Sans Frontières has
worked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since
1981.
What are
NGO’s?
A
C)
Research one project
in
detail
-
Aims
-
Who
is it helping?
-
How/costs
Democratic
Republic of Congo
In
the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, civilians have borne the brunt
of more than a decade of violent conflict. Villages have been pillaged and
destroyed, armed men have forced people to flee, and rape has been used as
a
tool of war. In 2010, thousands more people were displaced from their
homes by
violence. Throughout the country, decades of neglect of the health
system have
resulted in a rise in infant and maternal mortality rates and,
according to the
World Health Organization, life expectancy is among the
lowest in the world.
Providing
healthcare in conflict zones
The
project in DRC – in terms of
programmes, staff and budget – is Médecins Sans
Frontières’ biggest.
Teams
offer general and specialised
medical care in hospitals, health centres and
mobile clinics in various
provinces, including the capital city Kinshasa and the
wartorn east of the
country. In 2010, our staff carried out more than one
million medical
consultations, performed more than 10,000 surgeries and assisted
19,200
births. Staff treated patients for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, cholera,
haemorrhagic fevers, measles, malaria, sleeping sickness (human African
trypanosomiasis) and more. Teams carried out vaccination campaigns and
emergency
surgery, ran nutrition programmes and offered paediatric care.
Mental healthcare
was also offered, as well as women’s healthcare,
including specialised
assistance to victims of sexual violence.
After
three years of relative
stability in the Bunia region, Ituri province, Médecins
Sans Frontières
handed its activities in Bon Marché hospital over to the
Ministry of
Health. SOFEPADI, a Congolese non-governmental organisation that
specifically helps female victims of sexual violence, will take on
responsibility for the women’s health department. Teams provided care for 675
women in the six months before the handover process began.
In
other places, conflict
intensified, and poor infrastructure made accessing
remote areas even more
difficult. Around the town of Pinga in North Kivu, where
the community is
trapped by fighting across a constantly shifting front line,
teams used
motorbikes to hold mobile clinics and provide medical supplies. In
Hauts
Plateaux, a very isolated and mountainous part of South Kivu, teams walked
for up to six hours to reach displaced communities and carried out close to
13,800 medical consultations. Supplies can only reach Shabunda by cargo plane,
and our teams then used bicycles and motorbikes to bring medical care to
22,000
displaced people. In the Uélé area, in Orientale province,
insecurity means that
many displaced people can only be reached by plane.
Staff
at mobile clinics, health
centres and hospitals in Bunia, North and South Kivu,
and Haut-Uélé and
Bas-Uélé provided medical, psychological and social support
for almost
6,000 victims of sexual violence. In North Kivu, where it is
difficult to
reach the more remote settlements, we also trained a network of
women
counsellors to respond to the needs of victims of sexual violence and,
where necessary, to refer patients to the hospital for further care.
Rapid
response
units
In
the capital
Kinshasa, Kisangani in the north, Lubumbashi in the south and
Mbandaka in
the west of the country, our teams work closely with the Ministry of
Health
to monitor the epidemiological situation in DRC. Evaluation teams
investigate any claims of infectious disease outbreaks or other quick-onset
medical emergencies, and are prepared to respond within days. In 2010, the units
responded to ten crisis situations, including yellow fever and measles
outbreaks, and supplied emergency medical aid to people caught up in fighting in
Equateur Province.
Responding
to outbreaks of disease
Measles
epidemics occurred throughout the country in 2010. Médecins Sans
Frontières
teams vaccinated 2,700 children in Nyanzale, North Kivu, nearly
90,000 in the
Baraka area in South Kivu, 103,000 in Sakania, 40,000 in
Dilolo and 8,000 in
Bendera in Katanga province.
The
poor living conditions in
displaced persons camps and the lack of clean water
also facilitated the
spread of cholera in South Kivu in 2010. Médecins Sans
Frontières emergency
teams set up cholera treatment centres and treated more
than 1,600 patients
in Kabizo, Makobola, Minova, Mwenga and Shabunda. Our staff
supported the
response to cholera outbreaks in two displaced persons camps in
Kalemie,
Katanga province, providing case management expertise and medical
supplies.
Malaria
is among the leading causes
of illness and death in DRC. Our teams treated
27,000 patients in Katanga
province, 26,000 in North Kivu, and 19,000 in South
Kivu. Many were
children under five.
Haut-Uélé
and
Bas-Uélé are two of the areas in Africa most affected by sleeping sickness.
Our staff treated 829 patients for this deadly disease, which is transmitted to
humans through the bite of the tsetse fly.
Obstetric
fistula
surgery
In
Masisi
hospital in North Kivu, and in surgical “camps” in Shamwana and Manono in
Katanga, more than 130 operations were carried out on women suffering from
obstetric fistula. Fistulas are injuries to the birth canal which can occur as a
result of complications in childbirth or, occasionally, extreme sexual
violence,
and which can cause incontinence and crippling social stigma.
Specialised
emergency
burns intervention
In
July, Médecins Sans Frontières launched a specialised emergency intervention
when a fuel tanker crashed and exploded in Sange in South Kivu. More than
230
people died and 96 were seriously injured. Teams provided medical care
and
mental health support to 52 patients with severe burns in two hospitals
in the
region. Surgeons conducted skin grafting (a skin transplant that
encourages
rapid healing), and teams provided burns patients with
individual intensive
nursing care and physiotherapy.
HIV/AIDS
Teams
started more than 850 new
patients on antiretroviral treatment (ARV) in Médecins
Sans Frontières’
HIV/AIDS project in Centre Hospitalier de Kabinda in the centre
of Kinshasa
in 2010, bringing the total number of patients receiving the
medication
to 2,631.
Médecins
Sans
Frontières also began supplying medication, financial and technical
assistance to “Postes de Distribution”. These are community-based ARV
distribution points that give patients responsibility for their own care.
The centres were set up and are managed by people living with HIV/AIDS who
are
members of the Réseau National d'Organisations Assises Communautaire
(RNOAC), a
nationwide patient support group.
Médecins
Sans Frontières has
worked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since
1981.