International Activity Report 2015
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INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITY REPORT 2015 www.msf.org THE MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES CHARTER Médecins Sans Frontières is a private international association. The association is made up mainly of doctors and health sector workers and is also open to all other professions which might help in achieving its aims. All of its members agree to honour the following principles: Médecins Sans Frontières provides assistance to populations in distress, to victims of natural or man-made disasters and to victims of armed conflict. They do so irrespective of race, religion, creed or political convictions. Médecins Sans Frontières observes neutrality and impartiality in the name of universal medical ethics and the right to humanitarian assistance and claims full and unhindered freedom in the exercise of its functions. Members undertake to respect their professional code of ethics and to maintain complete independence from all political, economic or religious powers. As volunteers, members understand the risks and dangers of the missions they carry out and make no claim for themselves or their assigns for any form of compensation other than that which the association might be able to afford them. The country texts in this report provide descriptive overviews of MSF’s operational activities throughout the world between January and December 2015. Staffing figures represent the total full-time equivalent positions per country in 2015. Country summaries are representational and, owing to space considerations, may not be comprehensive. For more information on our activities in other languages, please visit one of the websites listed on p.96. The place names and boundaries used in this report do not reflect any position by MSF on their legal status. Some patients’ names have been changed for reasons of confidentiality. CONTENTS CONTENTS 2 MSF PROGRAMMES AROUND THE WORLD 4 THE YEAR IN REVIEW Dr Joanne Liu, International President Jérôme Oberreit, Secretary General 4 The year in review 8 OVERVIEW OF ACTIVITIES 10 GLOSSARY OF DISEASES AND ACTIVITIES 14 THE CRISIS IN YEMEN 16 THE ATTACK ON KUNDUZ TRAUMA CENTRE 18 AROUND LAKE CHAD: PEOPLE LIVING IN FEAR 14 The crisis in Yemen 22 WHY MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES (MSF) NEEDS INDIA TO REMAIN OPEN FOR BUSINESS 24 ACTIVITIES BY COUNTRY 53 THE OBSTACLE COURSE TO EUROPE 92 FACTS AND FIGURES 96 CONTACT MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES 16 The attack on Kunduz trauma centre 22 Why Médecins Sans Frontières needs India to remain open for business 24 Activities by country International Activity Report 2015 1 MSF PROGRAMMES AROUND THE WORLD MSF PROGRAMMES AROUND THE WORLD BELARUS UKRAINE AUSTRIA HUNGARY FRANCE SLOVENIA CROATIA SERBIA ITALY GEORGIA ARMENIA GREECE TURKEY SYRIA LEBANON IRAQ PALESTINE JORDAN ALGERIA LIBYA EGYPT MEXICO HAITI MAURITANIA MALI NIGER HONDURAS CHAD SUDAN YEMEN GUINEA-BISSAU GUINEA NIGERIA CÔTE SIERRA LEONE CENTRAL ETHIOPIA D’IVOIRE SOUTH AFRICAN LIBERIA SUDAN REPUBLIC COLOMBIA CAMEROON UGANDA KENYA DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF BURUNDI CONGO TANZANIA MALAWI BOLIVIA ZIMBABWE MADAGASCAR MOZAMBIQUE SWAZILAND LESOTHO SOUTH AFRICA 2 Médecins Sans Frontières 25 ALGERIA 59 FRANCE 25 ARMENIA 61 LIBERIA 26 AFGHANISTAN 62 LIBYA 28 BANGLADESH 62 MADAGASCAR 28 BELARUS 63 MALAWI 29 BOLIVIA 64 MALI 29 BURUNDI 65 MAURITANIA 30 CAMBODIA 65 MEXICO 30 COLOMBIA 66 MOZAMBIQUE 31 CAMEROON 66 PAPUA NEW RUSSIAN FEDERATION 32 CENTRAL GUINEA AFRICAN REPUBLIC 67 MYANMAR 34 CHAD 68 NEPAL 35 CÔTE 69 PALESTINE D’IVOIRE UZBEKISTAN KYRGYZSTAN 70 NIGER 35 EGYPT TAJIKISTAN 72 NIGERIA 36 DEMOCRATIC IRAN AFGHANISTAN REPUBLIC 74 PAKISTAN OF CONGO PAKISTAN NEPAL 76 PHILIPPINES BANGLADESH 38 ETHIOPIA INDIA 76 RUSSIAN MYANMAR 40 GEORGIA FEDERATION 40 GUINEA- 77 SIERRA LEONE CAMBODIA PHILIPPINES BISSAU 78 SOUTH 41 GUINEA AFRICA 42 HAITI 79 SUDAN INDONESIA 43 HONDURAS 80 SOUTH PAPUA NEW GUINEA 43 IRAN SUDAN 44 INDIA 82 SYRIA 46 IRAQ 84 SWAZILAND 48 JORDAN 85 TAJIKISTAN 49 KYRGYZSTAN 85 TURKEY 49 LESOTHO 86 TANZANIA 50 KENYA 87 UGANDA 52 LEBANON 87 UZBEKISTAN 56 GREECE 88 UKRAINE 57 ITALY 89 ZIMBABWE 58 BALKAN ROUTE 90 YEMEN THE YEAR IN REVIEW THE YEAR IN REVIEW Dr Joanne Liu, International President Jérôme Oberreit, Secretary General In October, the Médecins Our thoughts go out to the friends and civilians being deprived of essential medical families of those who died. We also care at a time when they need it most. Sans Frontières (MSF) remember our colleagues who tragically MSF was able to work in Kunduz thanks to Kunduz trauma centre in lost their lives this year in a helicopter crash negotiated agreements with all parties to the in Nepal and our colleague who was killed Afghanistan was targeted by conflict that they would respect the neutrality US airstrikes, which resulted in the Central African Republic (CAR). We take this opportunity as well to tell Philippe, of the medical facility. An independent in the deaths of 14 staff, Richard and Romy, our staff who are still and impartial inquiry into the facts and 24 patients and four patient missing in the Democratic Republic of circumstances of the attack is needed, as we Congo (DRC), that they are not forgotten. cannot rely only on the US’s own internal caretakers. Over one million military investigations. Aerial bombardments people in northeastern Attacks on healthcare and the of hospitals are not new, but neither can Afghanistan remain deprived subsequent suffering of civilians they be dismissed as simple ‘mistakes’. The The repercussions of attacks on health bombing in Kunduz attracted extensive of high-quality surgical care facilities continue long after the initial impact. media coverage because an international as a result. The destruction results in thousands of organisation was targeted by the US military. © Bruno De Cock/MSF MSF’s Afghanistan Country Representative speaks at a commemoration event in Brussels one month after the attack on MSF’s trauma centre in Kunduz. 4 Médecins Sans Frontières THE YEAR IN REVIEW © MSF An MSF-supported hospital in Haydan, Yemen after it was completely destroyed by an airstrike. It was the only functioning hospital serving a population of 200,000 people. At a time when attacks on healthcare are also bombed. Airstrikes in October carried and the small country is struggling to cope. intensifying and civilians are paying the price, out by the Saudi-led coalition destroyed In Jordan, over 600,000 Syrian refugees have what is often an overlooked issue was pushed an MSF-supported hospital, leaving over been registered to date. into the international spotlight. 200,000 people without access to medical In the Lake Chad region in western Africa, care. As a result of these repeated attacks on In January, an MSF hospital in South Kordofan, 2.5 million people in Cameroon, Chad, Niger medical facilities, some civilians regard visits Sudan, was bombed by the Sudanese Air and Nigeria fled their homes following attacks to hospitals as riskier than not seeking medical Force, injuring one patient and one staff by Boko Haram and sought shelter and care at all. The ‘security at all costs’ logic member. This same hospital had also been protection in refugee or internally displaced means that humanitarian aid is welcomed bombed in June 2014. Medical facilities were person camps. Counter-offensives by armed when it serves national security interests but also shelled in Ukraine at the beginning of forces have only added to their suffering. is restricted, even attacked, when it does not. the year, but it is in Syria where we really MSF works in all the countries mentioned see medical care becoming the target of People on the move above, for example conducting vaccination both deliberate and indiscriminate violence. Fleeing violence campaigns in Tanzania, providing free Laws passed in 2012 effectively criminalised Conflict and violence have forced hundreds treatment for chronic diseases in Lebanon, providing medical aid to the opposition of thousands of people to flee their homes running a reconstructive surgery project in in Syria. Government forces have since and their countries this year. In early 2015, Jordan and, despite insecurity, deploying strategically attacked medical facilities and large numbers of refugees crossed into medical teams to the four affected countries medical personnel, including doctors, nurses Tanzania to escape election-related violence in the Lake Chad region. A large part of the and ambulance drivers, with the aim of in Burundi. By July, as many as 3,000 people global responsibility for hosting refugees harming the opposition; an alarming trend of were arriving in the country each week, and is shouldered by countries immediately impunity. In 2015, there were 94 aerial and it was estimated that 78,000 Burundians bordering conflict zones, a fact that rarely shelling attacks on 63 MSF supported facilities, were sheltering in Nyarugusu camp. makes the headlines. causing varying degrees of damage and, in 12 cases, resulting in the total destruction of Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis in The journey to Europe the facility; 81 MSF supported medical staff 2011, it is estimated that more than 1.5 During 2015, at least 3,771 people died were killed or wounded. Towards the end million Syrian refugees and Palestinian while attempting the sea crossing to Europe. of the year, medical facilities in Yemen were refugees from Syria have arrived in Lebanon MSF conducted search and rescue operations International Activity Report 2015 5 THE YEAR IN REVIEW © Karin Ekholm/MSF A child is protected from measles during a mass vaccination campaign in the Yida refugee camp in South Sudan. at sea and provided assistance at Europe’s are fleeing their countries, and most efforts the bush and swamplands, where they had entry points and along the ‘migration route’, to date have concentrated on deterrence no access to assistance for months at a in a telling indictment of Europe’s policies measures aimed at stemming the flow of time. MSF medical facilities were looted or towards the displaced.