Throughout 2024, as the world was shaken by ongoing violent conflicts and other crises, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams continued to provide essential medical services and humanitarian aid—because when our patients need us, we are there.
This past year, MSF responded to disasters and disease outbreaks, helped improve health care for people on the move, provided urgently needed malnutrition and sanitation support, and so much more.
Our efforts never stop, so we’d like to take a moment to review the lifesaving work that was made possible this past year thanks to the incredible generosity of our global movement.
It’s been over a year and a half since war erupted in Sudan, and people have been cut off from vital medical aid. In North Darfur, home to Zamzam camp, a catastrophic malnutrition crisis is growing every day. With you beside us, Doctors Without Borders is one of the few organizations still providing lifesaving care, including malnutrition treatment, in many parts of the country. Across Sudan, we’ve treated 21,316 children for malnutrition and provided 13,981 pediatric consultations since the beginning of the year.
The number of admissions to the inpatient therapeutic feeding center doubled from January to April 2024. Initially, the hospital had 20 beds. This number was increased to 34 in mid-March and to 50 in April 2024.
Habib Baharldeen, Doctors Without Borders medical activity manager, El Geneina Teaching Hospital.Chad: Launching a major intervention against measles
Despite an upsurge in measles cases, vaccination coverage remains low throughout Chad. With your support, Doctors Without Borders has partnered with the Chadian Ministry of Public Health to launch targeted outreach campaigns in Moyen Chari and Salamat provinces, curbing the spread of this highly contagious disease, a primary cause of death for the country’s children.
In May, our emergency response team vaccinated nearly 40,000 children between six months and 10 years old. We also provided 1,848 children under 11 months old with routine vaccinations that they otherwise missed. In addition to our vaccination campaign, we also treated more than 950 people for measles, including 799 under the age of five. Meanwhile, our health promotion teams reached over 27,000 people to raise awareness about measles and the importance of vaccination.
These efforts play a crucial role in preventing the spread of measles. We work together with local communities, whether it’s awareness-raising, promotion, or mutual support, so that they feel involved and concerned in the fight against measles.
Mbaiornom Dankar Fidele, Doctors Without Borders health promotion supervisorGaza: Providing lifesaving care amid the surging need
The health care system in Gaza has been completely decimated by the last year of war, making medical care increasingly inaccessible, even as the overwhelming needs grow. Doctors Without Borders-supported Nasser and Al-Aqsa hospitals have been overwhelmed with massive numbers of wounded patients arriving at the same time. With your help, our teams continue to provide lifesaving aid and medical care despite the great risk and immense challenges. At Nasser Hospital, our teams responded to multiple mass casualty events while performing 25 to 30 deliveries in the maternity wards.
Nasser Hospital is basically the biggest functioning hospital in this area, but it can’t treat the whole population. Last week, the bed occupancy in the maternity department was at 214 percent, and the maternity department did 25 cesarean sections and some 200 deliveries.
Amy Kit-Mei Low, Doctors Without Borders project medical referentAfghanistan: Filling critical gaps in pediatric and neonatal care
Public health care facilities in Afghanistan are struggling to cover essential costs due to a lack of support for the health sector. This includes neonatal and pediatric intensive care. Mazar-i-Sharif Regional Hospital, for example, is the only regional referral hospital in Balkh province and also helps neighboring provinces. Through your generosity, our teams run the hospital’s neonatal and pediatric intensive care units, as well as the emergency room for children up to the age of 15.
Each month, we admit an average of 3,000 critically ill children to the pediatric emergency room and 546 newborns to the neonatal intensive care unit. Despite the expansion of the neonatal ward, the bed occupancy rate remains above 100 percent. At one point, it was 200 percent, meaning every bed had more than one patient.
Our goal is to ensure that every child who comes to the hospital receives the personalized care and support they need, vand to reduce the number of children dying from conditions that can be treated.
Heidi Hochstenbach, Doctors Without Borders head of programs, Mazar-i-Sharif Regional HospitalHaiti: Delivering essential medical supplies and care
Escalating violence has ravaged Port-au-Prince, severely affecting the health system. Doctors Without Borders medical facilities were seriously under-supplied—to the point where we were in danger of having to interrupt patient care. But after a three-month disruption, with your support we were able to restock our most urgently needed health programs, delivering 80 tons of medical supplies.
From March to May of this year alone, our teams carried out 21,707 outpatient consultations and treated 8,449 patients with emergency needs—including 1,128 with gunshot wounds. We also admitted 81 severely burned patients to the Tabarre hospital.
This arrival of medicines and medical supplies is a huge relief, but it only allows us to avoid a complete stock-out.
We remain vigilant, and the teams are already working to organize new deliveries in order to reliably continue all our medical activities and thus be able to treat more patients.
Mumuza Muhindo Musubaho, Doctors Without Borders head of mission