News & Stories

Yemen: Abs hospital overwhelmed as medical needs surge

8 March 2023 – The high number of people seeking treatment at Abs hospital, in Yemen’s Hajjah governorate, has left hospital staff and essential services overwhelmed, according to international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Patients frequently have to share beds, and the emergency room, maternity unit, neonatal unit and inpatient therapeutic feeding centre frequently operate at way more than 100 per cent capacity. MSF, whose teams have worked in the hospital since 2015, says it has reached the limit of its capacity to respond.

In response to the increase in patient numbers over the years, we’ve adapted our support to Abs hospital by extending different departments, increasing bed capacity and consolidating human resources. This support to Abs hospital has become one of MSF’s biggest humanitarian responses worldwide, but today we have reached the limit of our capacity to respond, in terms of space, human resources and supply.

Caroline Ducarme, MSF Head of Mission

The increased demand on Abs hospital’s services is due to a number of factors, including the protracted conflict in Yemen; the lack of affordable quality primary healthcare services, which means that patients who would otherwise seek care in local clinics are obliged to go to hospitals for treatment, often not arriving until their condition is serious; and the poor living conditions in camps for displaced people in Abs district, including a lack of clean water and sanitation, leading to disease outbreaks.

The situation was exacerbated in 2022 when funding cuts caused several health providers to stop working in Hajjah governorate and nearby Al Hudayda governorate. As a result, services were discontinued at several health facilities, while others were left with insufficient medical supplies, increasing the pressure on Abs hospital.

Even though we have significantly developed our activities in Abs hospital over the years, increasing bed capacity from 33 to 288, and supporting more than 80 per cent of the hospital departments, we are still not able to cover everyone’s needs.

Caroline Ducarme, MSF Head of Mission

Abs hospital is the only hospital for the around one million people in the region, and MSF is the only international organisation with a permanent presence in the area. In 2022, MSF’s teams at Abs hospital team provided 79,325 emergency consultations, assisted 10,181 deliveries, cared for 3,095 newborn babies in the neonatal unit, treated 2,944 malnourished children in the inpatient therapeutic feeding centre, performed 5,237 surgical interventions and treated 1,202 patients for malaria.

While MSF will continue to support Abs hospital in 2023, there is an urgent need for additional health organisations to step up and support the provision of healthcare in the district, where people have a range of urgent health needs, including the risk of malnutrition and measles.

The drastic impact of the protracted conflict on the health system in Yemen requires additional efforts from donors and humanitarian organisations to develop and strengthen the healthcare system to ensure that quality and affordable healthcare is accessible to all in Abs district, in Hajjah governorate and across Yemen. Urgent action is also required from health authorities and humanitarian and development organisations to address the gaps in primary healthcare, to ensure timely access to medical care and to reduce risks of complications, which lead to an increased demand for secondary healthcare services

Caroline Ducarme, MSF Head of Mission

MSF is proceeding with the reorganization of its activities in Abs hospital in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. This plan which was launched in 2022, includes revising the referral and admission criteria for some services and handing over some services to the Ministry of Public Health, in addition to implementing adjustments in the management of human resources. Through this reorganisation, MSF aims to improve the quality of care and focusing on the most vulnerable patients and on lifesaving activities, while building up the capacity of the national health system to ensure sustainable solutions for healthcare provision in Abs district.

To learn more about MSF support to Abs hospital, please check this online page: Exposure page Eng

MSF has been working in Yemen since 1986 and its teams have worked continuously in the country since 2007. In 2022, MSF teams worked in 12 hospitals and provided support to another 16 health facilities across 13 governorates.

Bangladesh: Cuts to refugees’ food rations will have serious health impact, warns MSF

2 March 2023 – Cuts to the food rations received by around one million Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar district, Bangladesh, will increase their risk of malnutrition and have a serious impact on their health, says international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Citing lack of funding, yesterday, the World Food Programme (WFP) cut rations by 17 per cent, bringing the number of calories per person to below the accepted minimum standard of 2,100 calories per day.

Rohingyas in the world’s largest grouping of refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar district are almost completely dependent on food assistance, as they are confined to the camps and prohibited from finding formal employment, preventing them from supplementing meagre food rations which are already below the recommended daily calorie intake.

A reduced calorie intake puts people at risk of malnutrition and anaemia and weakens their immune systems, increasing the risk of future outbreaks of infectious diseases such as measles and cholera.

Many pregnant women receiving antenatal care at MSF health facilities are already malnourished. Last year, 12 per cent of pregnant women at Kutupalong hospital and Balukhali clinic were diagnosed with acute malnutrition and 30 per cent with anaemia.

Mothers who are malnourished and anaemic are at a higher risk of experiencing complications during childbirth, while their newborn babies are more likely to have poor health outcomes. Even at the current level of food rations, 28 per cent of babies born in Kutupalong hospital and Balukhali clinic have a low birthweight, heightening their chance of becoming sick and malnourished.

Many refugees in the camps also suffer from chronic diseases such as heart disease, hypertension and type II diabetes. MSF currently provides care for a cohort of more than 4,500 patients. For non-communicable disease patients, a healthy diet is a critical part of managing their health conditions. Reduced access to adequate food would increase their reliance on medical care, potentially increasing demand for already overburdened health services in the camps.

Health services in the camps are already under enormous pressure as they struggle to deal with the medical impacts of people’s dire living conditions, including frequent outbreaks of scabies, dengue fever and cholera – the result of poor sanitation, stagnant water and overflowing latrines.

MSF is concerned that a reduction in food rations would also heighten the sense of desperation already prevalent throughout the camps and could drive more Rohingya to undertake highly dangerous sea and land journeys in search of a better life and a more hopeful future.

MSF is committed to providing services to the Rohingya population as long as needed, but covering more medical needs in the Cox’s Bazaar camps is outstripping MSF’s capacities, Funding has gone down and the number of aid organisations working in Cox’s Bazar has declined by almost 80 per cent. Donors must reprioritise the Rohingya and reaffirm their funding commitments.

Claudio Miglietta, MSF country representative in Bangladesh.

MSF has provided medical care in the refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district since 1992. Last year, MSF teams provided more than 750,000 outpatient consultations and admitted more than 22,000 patients for inpatient care.

Italy: MSF providing support to survivors of the Crotone shipwreck

Crotone, 28 February 2023 – A team from Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is offering psychological support to the survivors of a shipwreck that killed at least 62 people, including 12 children, a few hundred meters from Steccato di Cutro, southern Italy, on 26 February. About 180 people, mostly from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, were travelling on a wooden fishing boat that had left Türkiye four to five days earlier.

According to reports, the entire group fell into the water about 150 metres from the shore, most likely after the wooden boat hit rocks on the coast of eastern Calabria in bad weather. The body of one person was found tens of kilometres away, due to strong currents.

At least 20 survivors, including one person in need of intensive care, were hospitalised in a local public hospital. There are now about 60 survivors in the asylum seeker reception centre in Crotone, the majority of them Afghans.

[The survivors] are heavily traumatised. Everyone has lost someone. There is a 16-year-old boy from Afghanistan who lost his sister. He didn't have the courage to tell his parents. They had run away [to help her]. As a woman, her brother told us, she thought she no longer had a future in her country

Mara Eliana Tunno, MSF psychologist

MSF teams have provided psychological support to around 60 people and will continue to assist in the next days, in agreement with the Italian authorities. Among the accounts from survivors heard by our teams, there are minors who have lost their parents and family members. A 12-year-old boy lost his entire family, while a 17-year-old child who was hospitalised lost his parents. There is another boy who spoke of losing his 6-year-old brother to hypothermia four hours after the shipwreck.

While most deaths at sea still occur along the central Mediterranean route between Libya and Italy, where MSF operates the rescue vessel Geo Barents, in recent months MSF teams have observed an increase in the number of people making the dangerous crossing from Türkiye to Southern Italy. On 23 February, the Geo Barents was unfairly detained and fined by the Italian government. Even though this measure directly targets MSF, the real price will be paid by those fleeing across the central Mediterranean, who will be left without assistance.

This tragic shipwreck is a painful reminder that restrictive migration policies will not stop desperate people from fleeing. People will continue to risk their lives as they often have no other option. The Italian and EU governments must stop criminalising migration and humanitarian assistance. They must instead focus on providing adequate safe and legal channels to migrate and improved mechanisms to assist and protect people on the move

Sergio Di Dato, MSF project leader

Background information

MSF teams in Italy have been assisting refugees, asylum seekers and migrants at disembarkation points for several years. Staff, including psychologists and intercultural mediators specifically trained to offer psychological first aid (PFA) attend disembarkation ports, hotspots or reception centres. PFA activities are aimed mainly at relatives and friends of the victims of a shipwreck, with the objective to help address their trauma via emotional and mental support. The team also offers basic services to all survivors, including facilitating access to medical treatment, providing information and referring vulnerable cases to the competent authority.

In 2022, MSF Italy launched a project in Roccella Jonica, near Crotone, to provide medical and psychological support at disembarkation points, with a focus on identifying people with medical vulnerabilities who can be guaranteed continuity of care.

MSF has been active and engaged in search and rescue activities since 2015, working on eight different search and rescue vessels (alone or in partnership with other NGOs) and rescuing more than 85,000 people. Since launching search and rescue operations on board the Geo Barents in May 2021, MSF has rescued 6,194 people (including 3,742 in 2022), recovered the bodies of 11 people who died at sea and assisted in the delivery of a baby on board.

Repeated violence and movement restrictions affect MSF staff and patients in Nablus, Palestine

A raid by Israeli forces in the Old city of Nablus killed 11 Palestinians and injured over 100 on February 22, 2023. Later, when two settlers were shot and killed on February 26th in the Nablus suburb of Huwara, Israeli forces closed access to the city. That night, settlers set fire to Palestinian property including cars, houses and shops, injuring over 400 more people and killing one, per a Palestine Red Crescent report.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) provides mental health services in Nablus and donated medical equipment and emergency kits to a local clinic and hospital following the incidents. However, these repeated events affect both MSF operations and the mental health of Palestinian residents. Movement restrictions in the city limit access to MSF services for residents, who fear for their safety when leaving their homes. Road closures also affect MSF staff trying to reach their workplace. “Checkpoints around Nablus are closed as a result of Sunday’s violence, which on Monday kept our staff from going to the nearby city of Qalqilya, where we also provide mental health services,” Tareq Zaid, MSF Field Coordinator in Nablus said. Nablus residents, already affected by increasing insecurity, must now contend with an uptick in blockades in the first months of 2023 as violence increases throughout the West Bank, reaching levels not seen since 2000. “All this disturbs people’s personal lives: one of our staff was also not able to return to her home in Ramallah on February 26.”

Checkpoints around Nablus are closed as a result of Sunday’s violence, which on Monday kept our staff from going to the nearby city of Qalqilya, where we also provide mental health services

Tareq Zaid, MSF Field Coordinator in Nablus

Linda Gaouaou, MSF Head of Mission, said that frequent military operations affect MSF operations. “Within less than a week, the city of Nablus experienced two incidents that have kept our patients from accessing our clinics and affected our staff. These incidents reflect the norm of the past few months: a state of permanent tension in which the population has to navigate its life around recurring city closures by Israeli forces.

Haiti: MSF activities under threat after series of security incidents in Port-au-Prince

Port-au-Prince, February 24, 2023 – Recent incidents involving Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams and activities in Port-au-Prince, as well as serious threats circulating on social networks, are jeopardizing the safety of MSF staff and patients treated in its facilities, and its ability to provide care in Haiti.

On the night of February 23, hooded gunmen attempted to break into the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Tabarre. “Unidentified individuals pointed their weapons at staff and banged on the door before attempting to scale the wall to enter the hospital compound,” says Mahaman Bachard Iro, coordinator of Médecins sans Frontières in Haiti, who says the individuals then left the premises. “We ask all parties to respect the medical mission we have, even as MSF remains one of the last international organizations still delivering care in the Haitian capital.”

Earlier in the day on February 22, entrances and exits to the MSF emergency center in Turgeau were blocked and an ambulance searched. Refusing to lay down their arms, police then entered the facility to check the identity of all registered patients.

A few weeks earlier, on February 7, another incident occurred when an ambulance clearly marked MSF was stopped and searched. Weapons were pointed at the vehicle’s passengers to check their identities, stopping the ambulance for more than 45 minutes before it was allowed to resume its journey.

In addition, two violent clashes between armed groups have occurred since the beginning of the year just meters from the MSF hospital in Cité Soleil, resulting in the temporary closure of consultations and the temporary evacuation of some staff. In the face of these repeated and disturbing clashes, and the fact that the front line between armed groups is getting closer to the hospital, MSF fears that it will no longer be able to work safely to continue providing medical care to the population.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to work in these conditions, and the recurrence of these incidents is endangering the safety of our medical staff and patients. These repeated obstacles to our teams moving around Port-au-Prince to transfer patients from one hospital to another, these violent intrusions into our medical facilities, and the crossfire at the gates of our health care facilities, seriously threaten the continuity of our activities.

Mahaman Bachard Iro, coordinator of Médecins sans Frontières in Haiti

As a reminder, MSF temporarily closed the hospital in Drouillard in April 2022, permanently closed the doors of its emergency center in Martissant in June 2021 and suspended its support for the Raoul Pierre Louis hospital in Carrefour in January 2023 for security reasons.

The teams of Médecins sans Frontières has been present in Haiti for 30 years, treating all patients in need of care in an impartial manner. We urge all parties to respect our medical mission, including patients, caregivers, hospitals and the ambulances that transport them. In this difficult context, the entire Haitian health system is on the verge of collapse, as many health structures can no longer function properly. MSF would also like to reiterate its commitment to the Haitian population, the first victims of the violence that has torn the country apart for years.

In 2022, MSF teams, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, performed more than 4,600 surgical interventions, gave 34,200 emergency consultations, treated 2,600 gunshot wounds, 370 burn victims, and carried out 17,800 consultations in mobile clinics, 2,300 victims of sexual violence and 700 deliveries. Since the first case of cholera arrived in late September 2022, our teams have also treated more than 19,000 people.

MSF expands relief efforts and sets up mobile clinics in quake-hit northwest Syria

At 4.17 on the morning of Monday 6 February, Mohammad and his family were shaken awake by the first of two massive earthquakes which hit large parts of northwest Syria and south Türkiye.

“When the earthquake shook all the buildings, my wife and I took our children and ran to the school playground,” says Mohammad. “We stood there in the rain, horrified at the devastation we could see around us. Buildings had collapsed and people were trapped inside. The situation was tragic.”

Mohammad and his family were living in a school in Azmarin, in Syria’s northern Idlib province, after being displaced from their home in Jabal Al Zawiya, around 70 km away.

The earthquakes wrought major devastation, resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries and leaving many more without shelter, food or basic necessities. The disaster compounded an already desperate humanitarian situation. More than 180,000 people have been displaced by the earthquake, adding to the two million people already living in difficult and precarious circumstances after being displaced repeatedly during 12 years of war.

After hours in the cold rain, Mohammad and his family found shelter under some olive trees. Two days later, still reeling from the shock of what had happened, they took to the road in search of refuge, along with other people made homeless by the quake. “We kept moving until we reached this reception centre,” says Mohammad. “They helped us and took us in.”

Mobile clinics and relief items

MSF teams are responding to people’s medical and humanitarian needs as a result of the disaster. Initially their focus was on bolstering the emergency response capacity of local medical teams and donating essential medicines and medical supplies to health facilities and rescue teams. Today, MSF has scaled up its activities in northwest Syria, running four mobile clinics and distributing essential relief items including mattresses, hygiene items, cleaning materials and kitchen utensils.

In Idlib, Syria, MSF teams have provided 5,667 medical consultations and distributed nearly 31,000 relief items, so far. At the mobile clinics, medics provide wound care, general medical care, care for chronic diseases, sexual and reproductive healthcare, mental health support and vaccinations for children.

The earthquake has worsened the already dire situation for people in northwest Syria, where many people live in overcrowded and inadequate conditions with limited access to medical care. The mobile clinics are providing essential medical care to those who need it most

Dr Ziad Marzouk, a chronic diseases specialist, MSF’s mobile clinic team

More aid is urgently needed in northwest Syria

The earthquakes have highlighted the urgent need for humanitarian aid in northwest Syria and exposed a forgotten crisis in the region. Despite the aid that has reached some areas in recent days, there is an enormous unmet need for shelter, drinking water, washing facilities and heating equipment. People are also unable to access health care at a time where the disaster has left a huge psychological impact on people’s well being.

It is important that the humanitarian response does not fade within weeks of the earthquake but is instead strengthened and increased. The earthquake has presented new challenges in people’s ability to access basic needs including medical care. So far, in the two weeks since the earthquake, the humanitarian aid coming into northwest Syria has been too little and too slow. International aid must be urgently scaled up in order to preserve the lives and dignity of people living in affected areas.

Yasser Kamaledin, MSF head of mission for Syria

Like many others, Mohammad and his family are struggling to get through the cold winter nights without mattresses to sleep on or electricity to provide light and warmth.

“During the war, not knowing what would happen, we left our homes thinking we’d be back in a few days,” says Mohammad. “Instead we ended up with nothing. Now, following the earthquake, the same thing has happened. People are trying to help each other in any way they can, but we need at least mattresses to sleep on and light because there is no electricity. All the families here have been left with nothing.”

(Disclaimer: Mohammad is not the real name of the person mentioned in this article. The name and identifying details have been changed)

MSF sends supplies to Tartus, offers increased support to all earthquake-affected areas in Syria

Two Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) trucks have reached Tartus, coming from Beirut. The trucks supplied 35 cubic metres of medical kits and around 50 cubic metres of logistics materials as donations to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC).

Surgical and trauma kits, water treatment units, shelters, and non-food items such as hygiene kits and blankets were donated to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) logistics warehouse in Tartus to assist the population affected by the earthquakes in northern Syria.

Two weeks after devastating earthquakes struck the area, impacting thousands of lives, an urgent scale up of humanitarian assistance is needed. This will be the first MSF donation since the earthquake in areas where the organisation’s teams are not present. MSF field teams stand ready to respond directly and provide care to people impacted by the earthquakes in the affected governorates: Idlib, Latakia, Aleppo and Hama.

“Everyone affected should receive immediate humanitarian assistance wherever they are, and we remain committed to doing so, wherever access is granted”, says Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, MSF Director of Operations. “We reiterate the offer made immediately after the earthquake: to send supplies and specialist teams to all affected regions where we are not present”.

Since 6 February, MSF has significantly scaled up its operations in northwest Syria, where we have been present for more than ten years. This support has included direct medical assistance and essential supplies to the local population, through the hospitals our teams support, as well as the provision of logistical supplies to Idlib and Aleppo. In Türkiye, we are working with local partners on distribution and relief aid assistance.

MSF aid convoy in relief of earthquake victims enters northwest Syria

The earthquakes that struck south Türkiye and northwest Syria on 6 February have wrought devastation, resulting in a shocking number of deaths and injuries, and causing untold damage to infrastructure in both countries.

Our teams are on hand, working around the clock to respond to the emergency. Here are four things to know about the situation on the ground…

A Médecins Sans Frontières convoy of 14 trucks entered northwestern Syria today, arriving from Türkiye through the Hammam border crossing point. This first convoy carries 1,296 tents destined to families (of 5 people or more) left homeless by the earthquake and 1,296 winter kits to insulate the tents from the cold. Other MSF convoys are planned to follow quickly to deliver medical and non-medical equipment.

However, warns MSF, an urgent increase in the volume of supplies is needed to match the scale of the humanitarian crisis. In the ten days following the earthquake, the number of trucks that crossed the border into northwest Syria was lower than the average number for 2022. Present in the area for more than 10 years, MSF teams have been able to immediately launch an emergency response.

“We emptied our emergency stocks in three days, donating nearly 12 tons (4,000 cubic meters) of surgical equipment, dressing and medicines to hospitals. Our teams provided support to the health facilities in the area until they were exhausted. We did not see any help from the outside. Aid is trickling in negligible amounts for the moment.”

Hakim Khaldi, head of mission for MSF in Syria

Our teams identified enormous unmet needs in terms of relief. Access to accommodation and decent hygiene conditions are far from being granted, especially as the 180 000 people newly displaced by the 6^th February earthquake add to the two-million people displaced by 12 years of war and already living in precarious conditions. MSF is currently providing relief and medical support to the people living in five reception centers in Northern Idlib (a mobile team provides health care and we distributed tents, water, bread, blankets, mattresses and fire extinguishers). Activities aimed at ensuring the continuity of access to health care for both victims of the earthquake and the general population are starting next week.

Humanitarian aid provided to the region through the cross-border mechanism has not even matched its pre-earthquake average volume yet. According to UN data, 5 days after the earthquake, only 10 trucks had entered Syria through Bab al-Hawa, a UN-coordinated border crossing point for humanitarian aid from neighbouring Türkiye.

As of 17 February, a total of 178 trucks loaded with aid provided by six UN agencies had crossed into northwest Syria through Bab Al-Hawa and Bab Al-Salama since the earthquakes eleven days before. In 2022, 7,566 trucks loaded with aid crossed from Türkiye into northwest Syria, which represents an average of 227 trucks for the same period of 11 days.

Furthermore, part of the 178 trucks that reached Northwest Syria were not part of the earthquake response but rather already-planned deliveries. Even considering 3 days of border closure, the current volume of trucks is barely matching the humanitarian response before the disaster.

The border crossing of the MSF convoy was possible thanks to the support of Al Ameen, a Syrian NGO partnering with MSF. The delivery was arranged outside of the United Nations cross-border humanitarian mechanism coordinated by the WHO, which does not cover logistical equipment.

MSF calls for the immediate scaling up of the assistance for the people affected by the earthquake in northwest Syria, in order to address the new humanitarian needs adding to those already prevailing in the area. In particular, priority should be given to supplying shelters and water and sanitation equipment, as well as the medical supplies necessary for post-operative care and to maintain continuity of care, amongst other items which are urgently needed.

Four things to know about the earthquake response in Türkiye and Syria

Our teams are on hand, working around the clock to respond to the emergency. Here are four things to know about the situation on the ground…

1. Medical and relief support remain priorities

In the aftermath of the earthquake, both medical support and relief assistance are desperately needed in northwest Syria and Türkiye. While providing medical care to injured people and supporting health facilities remains a priority, immediate relief support is also vital. The collapse of buildings has left many people without shelter in very cold temperatures. Therefore, providing shelter, food, blankets, clothes, heating materials and hygiene kits remains a priority.

With at least 150,000 people becoming homeless in Türkiye, the authorities have identified shelters, non-food items distribution activities and food distribution as immediate needs.

In Syria, this disaster adds a dramatic layer for vulnerable people in the northwest of the country, who have witnessed years of ongoing humanitarian crises including war, displacement, a pandemic and a recent outbreak of cholera. The dire consequences of the earthquakes will require an enormous response from the local and international community.

2. Scaling up emergency response in Syria

In Syria, our teams treated more than 200 patients in the first hours following the earthquakes. We also opened a mobile clinic in Kelly’s reception centre, in Idlib governorate. MSF-supported health facilities in Aleppo and Idlib governorates have so far received 3,465 injured people and recorded 551 deaths. Our teams are offering support to ambulances to facilitate the transfer of patients in need of emergency assistance and have initiated first-aid activities in the facilities we’re supporting and across our mobile clinics.

In northwest Syria, we have activated an immediate response to support hospitals in Idlib and Aleppo with emergency, trauma and surgical kits, and continue to support hospitals with senior staff from our teams. MSF is currently supporting seven hospitals including a burns unit, in addition to 12 general healthcare centres in the region. We have scaled up bed capacities in our medical facilities by adding tents and dressing points.

In terms of relief assistance, we’re distributing blankets, hygiene kits and food items to target 2,500 families in Jindiris area in Afrin district, Aleppo governorate.

3. MSF ready to mobilise emergency response in Türkiye

Our emergency teams are assessing the needs in the most affected areas of southern Türkiye. Hatay, Gaziantep and Diyarbakir appear to be the most affected by the earthquakes.

We are ready to provide assistance in Türkiye and to mobilise our emergency capacities. We are currently holding discussions with the authorities and local partners to define the framework of our support.

4. Insecurity and limited access in Syria hamper response

After 12 years of war, Syria remains the country with the largest number of displaced people in the world, with 6.9 million people displaced within the country, most of whom are women and children. Our teams operate in Syria where we can, but ongoing insecurity and access constraints continue to severely limit our ability to provide humanitarian assistance that matches the scale of the needs.

Another challenge we’re facing concerns our ability to replace emergency stocks as soon as possible. This is compounded by the lack of access points to get humanitarian aid into northwest Syria.

Bab Al-Hawa remains the only humanitarian crossing between Türkiye and northwest Syria, through which essential lifesaving medical supplies can enter the region. However, the route has been compromised as roads leading to the border have been damaged. This will potentially delay the importation of humanitarian and medical aid into Syria, as almost all organisations and actors rely on this crossing for their activities.

In northwest Syria, MSF is currently supporting seven hospitals including a burns unit, in addition to 12 general healthcare centres and three ambulances for referrals. In addition, we support 11 mobile clinics serving displaced people in camps. We also run water, sanitation and hygiene activities in close to 100 camps across the northwest.

In northeast Syria, we run a general healthcare clinic, non-communicable diseases programmes, mobile wound care and a reverse osmosis plant to provide safe drinking water in Al-Hol camp. We also support a hospital, as well as an outpatient department, emergency room, nutrition programming, and currently have a team engaged in a short-term influenza B intervention in response to high child mortality.

Overwhelming needs as earthquakes hit south Turkey and northwest Syria

Following the powerful earthquakes that hit the south of Turkey and northwest Syria on February 6th, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), already supporting the population of northwest Syria, has mobilized its team along with local partners to respond to the increasing needs in the area.

Unfortunately, one of our staff members was found dead under the rubbles of his house in Idlib, and others lost members of their families. “We are very shocked and saddened by the impact of this disaster on the thousands of people touched by it, including our colleagues and their families”, says Sebastien Gay, MSF Head of Mission in Syria.

“Health facilities are impacted and overwhelmed, and the medical personnel in northern Syria is working around the clock to respond to the huge numbers of wounded arriving to the facilities. From the first hours, our teams treated around 200 wounded and we received 160 casualties in the facilities and the clinics that we run or support in northern Idlib. Our ambulances are also deployed to assist the population”

Sebastien Gay, MSF Head of Mission in Syria

MSF provided immediate support to 23 health facilities across Idlib and Aleppo governorates, by donating emergency medical kits and supporting them with medical staff to reinforce their teams.

Moreover, our teams have donated blankets and essential life kits to the displaced populations in northwest Syria. The level of damage in the region has caused the destruction of hundreds of houses, leaving thousands homeless. It has been snowing the past three days and the population remains outside out of fear of further aftershocks that continued throughout the day.

“The needs are very high in northwest Syria as this quake adds a dramatic layer for the vulnerable populations that are still struggling after many years of war”, adds Gay. “The massive consequences of this disaster will require an international aid effort that is up to the scale”.

MSF remains in close contact with the local authorities in northwest Syria and with the authorities in Turkey to extend our support where it’s needed. We are currently assessing the situation and needs in Idlib, northern Aleppo and south Turkey to scale up our response accordingly, as the number of deaths and injuries is increasing by the hour.

MSF Response to the earthquake on February 6, 2023.

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Published on February 6, 2023