As a medical organisation we constantly strive to provide the most effective healthcare possible for our patients. As in previous years, our medical work in 2007 included a huge range of medical activities, from organising basic vaccination campaigns to carrying out reconstructive facial surgery. Our medical staff provide essential healthcare during and after conflict; treat people affected by epidemic diseases; help people survive natural disasters; and offer medical care to those excluded from healthcare. MSF also advocates for affordable, high quality medicines for the world's poorest people.
HIV/AIDS
There are more than 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, the majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2007, 2.5 million children under 15 years old were living with HIV/AIDS, with 1,150 becoming infected every day. Without treatment, half of all infants with HIV will die before their second birthday. Click here to read more about HIV/AIDS
Takeo hospital, Cambodia. This ward is for patients who are HIV seropositive and infected with TB. MSF in Cambodia has adopted an innovative approach, treating HIV/AIDS as a chronic disease alongside diabetes and hypertension, which also have high prevalence rates. MSF is also increasingly focussed on developing treatment for patients affected by tuberculosis (including multi-drug resistant TB). 2007.
Photo by Dieter Telemans
Malaria
Malaria mainly strikes poor and rural communities. Patients are often bedridden for days and can't carry out normal daily activities. Children who survive the disease may suffer neurological damage and educational difficulties. The result can be a loss of income and a burden on families, health systems and society as a whole. This suffering and loss of life are unnecessary. Malaria is largely preventable, detectable and treatable.
Click here to read more about Malaria
MSF recommends that health workers give the first of 3 doses in a treatment by artemisinin-based combination drugs. At the end of 2005, MSF introduced artemisinin-based combination therapies in Dabola prefecture. They had a clear effect on the number of visits to health centres: in August 2006, 1,800 patients suffering from malaria consulted health structures in Dabola prefecture. In August 2007, the number rose to 3,320. The number of severe malaria cases decreased from 220 patients in the first semester of 2006 to 130 patients in the first semester of 2007.
Photo by Claude Mahoudeau/MSF
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most deadly infectious diseases in the world. Each year, it kills 1.6 million people, with another 9 million suffering from the disease, mainly in developing countries. TB is the major killer of people living with HIV in Africa. Almost half a million people develop multi drug-resistant strains of the disease every year. TB is highly infectious and spreads mainly through the air. Coughing, sneezing, talking and spitting by an infected person can all spread the bacteria and it can remain in the air for several hours before being inhaled by another person. TB is particularly common amongst young children, who have immature immune systems, and people with lowered immune systems, such as those infected with HIV.
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Nukus, Uzbekistan. TB patients undergoing treatment at hospital for Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR TB), a severe strain of TB prevalent in many former Soviet bloc countries. Here, a nurse prepares daily medications for patients. A typical dose, taken six days a week, can include anywhere from 15 - 25 pills. March 2007.
Photo by Donald Weber/Atlas Press
Measles
Measles is caused by the measles virus and is highly contagious. Infection occurs by coming into contact with fluids released when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Just under 200,000 children affected by measles die every year, worldwide. Even though a safe and effective vaccine exists, outbreaks occur all round the world because routine immunisation programmes are not in place or are not effective.
Click here to read more about Measles.
Endebess hospital, Kenya. An MSF measles immunisation campaign, organised by MSF with the Ministry of Health.
Photo by Brendan Bannon
Cholera
Cholera causes profuse diarrhoea and vomiting, and infected people can die of profound dehydration, sometimes within a matter of hours. It often breaks out when there is overcrowding and inadequate access to clean water, rubbish collection, and proper latrines. Click here to read more about Cholera
Ratoma cholera treatment unit, Guinea. Endemic in West Africa, cholera has struck again in Guinea. Between Jenuary and mid-August 2007, nearly 2,500 cases of cholera were recorded across Guinea, with a death toll of just under 90 people. August 2007.
Photo by MSF
Meningitis
Meningococcal meningitis is a contagious and potentially fatal bacterial infection of the brain membrane. The bacteria are transmitted through respiratory droplets or throat secretions, with spread commonly occurring through close contact. Overcrowding and cramped living conditions facilitate the spread of the disease.
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Sudan. MSF nurse during a meninigitis vaccination campaign. 2007.
Photo by Anne Yzebe/MSF
Sleeping Sickness
Sleeping sickness, or Human African Trypanosomiasis, is caused by infection with the parasite Trypanosoma brucei gambiense or rhodesiense. It is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected tsetse flies. The first stage of the disease is hard to diagnose but relatively easy to treat. The second stage is characterised by severe neurological symptoms and, if left untreated, inevitably leads to coma and death. Sleeping sickness is a fatal and neglected disease affecting 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 60 million people are living in at-risk areas and it is estimated that 70,000 are infected. Click here to find more about Sleeping Sickness
Omugo, Uganda. Freddie Agondu, 19, (left), rests after recieving an injection to treat Sleeping Sickness. April, 2000
Photo by Lori Waselchuk
Kala Azar
Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease endemic in 88 countries and affecting over 12 million people. It principally affects poor, remote communities where there is limited access to healthcare and affordable drugs. Leishmaniasis often occurs as an epidemic, especially when previously unexposed populations are forced by war and famine to move into endemic areas. The parasite is transmitted to humans by biting sand flies. Click here to read more about Kala Azar
Huddur, Somalia. A child patient and caretakers at the MSFKala Azar ward at Äôs Health Centre. Many of the patients have come a long way, and caretakers often stay with the children throughout the treatment period of 28 days, having to leave their everyday life and responsibilities behind.
Photo by Henrik Glette/MSF
Chagas Disease
Chagas is a parasitic disease found on the American continent, where it affects 13 million people and kills up to 50,000 every year. The disease is transmitted by an insect that lives in the walls and roofs of mud and straw houses, common among rural areas and poor urban slums in South America.
Click here to read more about Chagas' Disease
MSF team member testing a potentially affected child until for Chagas in Bolivia. In Bolivia, nearly 3.7 million people are at risk of contracting Chagas disease and about 1.8 million people are already living with it.
Photo by Juan Carlos Tomasi/MSF
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is currently associated with half the deaths of children under five, representing five million children each year. When children suffer from acute malnutrition, their immune systems are so impaired that a banal disease such as a respiratory infection or gastroenteritis can very quickly lead to complications and eventually death. Click here to read more about malnutrition
Kenya, North Eastern Province. During a measles vaccination campaign organised by MSF, a malnourished child receives a package of Plump'Nut with a high percentage of calories.
Photo by Dieter Telemans