Projects 2021
COVID-19: Global crisis – global aid
The coronavirus spreads over many months. DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS responds worldwide and is active in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. The emergency medical aid organisation opens special Covid 19 projects and maintains its regular aid – under difficult conditions. Border closures and scarce resources of protective clothing and medical material are still a challenge today. For example, in Yemen, where the virus is hitting a vulnerable population at war. Doctors Without Borders is working in more than 70 countries around the world, and the pandemic has changed the work everywhere.
With 3,000 €, Doctors Without Borders can buy 290 sets of protective clothing to protect staff from infection with the coronavirus. With 5,000 € or 10,000 €, it is 480 and 970 sets of protective clothing respectively.
Yemen: Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing fighting in the civil war country. A team from DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS offers a mobile consultation in the Chudaish camp for displaced people. This help is vital for survival – all the more so since the start of the Covid 19 pandemic. © Nuha Haider/MSF
Brazil: The population in the Amazon is particularly hard hit by the Covid 19 pandemic, so teams from DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS start an emergency mission. They work in hospitals and reach patients in remote areas by boat and off-road vehicle. © Diego Baravelli/MSF
Central Africa: effective protection against measles
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and Chad, severe measles epidemics are rampant. The highly contagious disease is life-threatening, especially in combination with malnutrition. Doctors Without Borders is launching vaccination campaigns in all three countries at great logistical expense: the teams take the measles vaccine to remote villages by motorbike or off-road vehicle. To ensure that it remains effective, it is transported in large cool boxes. Within four months, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS vaccinates more than 600,000 people against measles in Central Africa and treats tens of thousands of patients.
For example, with 5,800 €, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS can buy the vaccine to immunise 20,000 children against measles. With 2,900 € or 11,600 € it is 10,000 and 40,000 children respectively.
Democratic Republic of Congo: Mobile teams from Doctors Without Borders are on the road for hours to bring the measles vaccine even to distant villages, like here in Mongala province. They have everything they need to immunise thousands of children against measles. © Caroline Thirion/MSF
Central African Republic: Marceline and Christ are seriously ill with measles. They get help at the hospital in Baboua: Doctors Without Borders has set up an isolation ward there. The team treats so many children that the two have to share a bed. © James Oatway
Sierra Leone: early aid saves lives
Maternal and child mortality in Sierra Leone is one of the highest in the world. Doctors Without Borders runs a children’s hospital in the Kenema district. The team admits numerous young patients with life-threatening malaria, pneumonia or gastrointestinal infections. They need immediate intensive medical treatment. In order to prevent such serious illnesses, mobile teams from DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS travel every week to far-flung villages. They are able to treat most diseases directly on site at an early stage and with simple means. The emergency aid organisation has also started to expand the hospital in Kenema by adding a maternity ward and a neonatal ward.
For example, with 6,500 €, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS can test 10,000 children for malaria and treat them with an effective combination drug. With 3,250 € or 13,000 €, it is 5,000 or 20,000 children respectively.
Sierra Leone: Paediatrician Marianella Rodríguez cares for a seriously ill child in the intensive care unit of DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS in Kenema district. © Peter Bräunig
Sierra Leone: A health advisor uses a megaphone to inform people about diseases such as malaria and covid-19. He is part of the mobile teams of DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS who bring medical aid to the villages in the Kenema district. © Peter Bräunig