An emergency response team of Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), an international humanitarian organisation, has reached Kyiv and has been helping with medical supplies
An emergency response team of Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), an international humanitarian organisation, has reached Kyiv and has been helping with medical supplies.
As per a statement by MSF, medical kits and supplies were safely received by the Ministry of Health in Kyiv on 6 March, and were being sent to hospitals in the city and in other towns further east where the numbers of people wounded is rising and supplies are running out quickly.
“The supplies have been selected to respond to war trauma. They include surgical kits, trauma kits, basic necessities for intensive care units, emergency rooms, and surgical operating theaters, including instruments, equipment, medicines, drugs, and other items — approximately 1,400 cubic feet of supplies,” it said.
Also read: Russia announces ceasefire for humanitarian corridors amid heavy shelling in Ukraine
The medical humanitarian organisation has time and again risen to the occasion to help with medical supplies and treatment in conflict zones, let’s take a look how Doctors Without Borders are making a difference in the war-torn Ukraine since Russia’s invasion more than a week ago:
What is Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
MSF was founded in 1971 by a small group of French doctors and journalists in the aftermath of the Biafran famine of the Nigerian Civil War with an aim to find a way to respond rapidly and effectively to public health emergencies, with complete independence from political, economic and religious influences.
The international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare.
Guided by medical ethics and the principles of neutrality and impartiality, MSF claims to assist people based on need, irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation.
Also read: Ukraine is Europe’s ‘fastest growing refugee’ crisis since World War II, says UN
As of 2019, the organisation was working in over 70 countries with more than 35,000 medical staff including local doctors, nurses and other experts of various fields.
In 1999, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to MSF “in recognition of the organization’s pioneering humanitarian work on several continents.”
The organisation focuses on areas where there is no medical infrastructure or the existing one is not capable of managing the situation on its own.
For more than 40 years, MSF has been providing medical help to people caught in many kinds of catastrophes, including armed conflicts, disasters such as floods and earthquakes, epidemics of disease and malnutrition crises.
MSF also organises mass vaccination campaigns, water and sanitation programmes, training and health education programmes, and rehabilitation of health infrastructures.
How and where MSF has helped previously
As per the data available on MSF website, around one-third of its humanitarian and medical assistance is for populations caught in armed conflicts.
For years, the organisation has provided medical assistance amid the armed conflicts in Gaza, Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, and the Central African Republic.
During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, MSF worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross {ICRC} to keep all the main hospitals operational in Rwandan capital Kigali. The ICRC lost 56 and MSF lost about 100 of its staff in Rwanda.
MSF has also been active in a large number of African countries for decades, including Sierra Leone, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Burundi. It has sometimes served as the sole provider of healthcare, food and water to the local population.
After the Haiti earthquake of 2010, the organisation sent about nine planes full of medical equipment and supplies. It had also set up a field hospital to help treat the victims.
In India, the medical NGO helped civilians displaced by fighting in Jammu and Kashmir in 1999.
As per a statement by the organisation, it has been providing free counselling to people affected in the valley since 2001.
“Currently, our teams provide counselling services at hospitals in four districts: Baramulla, Shopian, Pulwama and Srinagar. To combat the stigma associated with mental illness, MSF teams also raise awareness on the importance of mental health and the need for availability of mental health services in the valley,” it said.
According to a survey conducted by MSF in 2015, nearly 1.8 million adults in the Kashmir valley show symptoms of significant mental distress.
MSF started providing specialised care for HIV and TB in Manipur in 2005 and 2007 respectively. It provides free, high-quality screening, diagnosis and treatment for HIV, TB, hepatitis C and co-infections
It has also been active in Bihar, Delhi, Maharashtra, and in remote areas of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana.
With inputs from agencies
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