Press Room

Rome, November 19, 2009 -- New Italian government policies to curb the influx of migrants have led to a sharp decrease in the number of migrants and refugees arriving by boat to Lampedusa, Italy. As a result, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is withdrawing its team from the island. Between May and October 2008, more than 21,000 migrants and refugees landed on Lampedusa after a perilous journey across the Mediterranean, according to MSF. During the same period this year, MSF teams saw fewer than 200 migrants. MSF is extremely concerned for the fate of migrants reportedly intercepted at sea and prevented from arriving in Italy. Read more »

Rome/New York, November 11, 2009 – Funding by rich countries to combat malnutrition has remained flat for seven years, according to a report released today by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). This barely accounts for three percent of the funds needed to reduce the 3.5 to 5 million annual deaths of children under five attributed to malnutrition. Read more »

Kinshasa, November 6, 2009 – Last month, seven vaccination sites operated by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) came under fire during attacks by the Congolese army against the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Thousands of civilians had gathered at the sites. MSF denounces this clearly unacceptable abuse of humanitarian aid for military purposes. Read more »

Johannesburg/New York, November 5, 2009 — A retreat from international funding commitments for AIDS threatens to undermine the dramatic gains made in reducing AIDS-related illness and death in recent years, according to a new report released today by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Read more »

Geneva/Kampala, September 22, 2009 - NECT (Nifurtimox-Eflornithine Combination Therapy), the first new treatment in 25 years against Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) or sleeping sickness, is now available. Endemic countries have now begun the process of ordering the new combination treatment and kits through the World Health Organization (WHO). Developed by DNDi and its partners, NECT cuts the cost of treatment by half and significantly reduces the burden on health workers. The announcement was made today at the International Scientific Council for Trypanosomiasi Research and Control (ISCTRC), in Kampala, Uganda. Read more »

Stockholm, October 21, 2009 – The largest European countries are lagging far behind the United States in funding of tuberculosis (TB) research and development. As such they bear a responsibility for the painfully slow progress in finding new TB tests and treatments, according to a report released today by the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The report shows that all European countries in the analysis—with the exception of Sweden-- have failed to prioritize TB and are contributing to huge global underfunding at a time when 1.7 million people die every year from the disease. Read more »

Sanaa/Paris, October 20, 2009 — Two months into the war in Northern Yemen, one of the last functioning hospitals in the Saada governorate was directly hit by rocket fire last week and forced to close. It is urgent that a hospital be set up in a safe area allowing patients to access health care, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on Tuesday. MSF is ready to restart medical activities in the governorate as soon as possible. Read more »

Kinshasa, DRC, October 14, 2009 – One year after violence erupted in Haut-Uélé district, in northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), attacks and clashes have now expanded to new areas, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee. Humanitarian organizations have failed to meet the massive needs that have resulted and an urgent response with greater presence in the rural areas of Haut-Uélé and Bas-Uélé is imperative, said the international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Read more »

New York/London, September 30, 2009 – The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today called on nine of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to help accelerate the availability of new treatments for millions of people living with HIV/AIDS, by pooling their patents on a list of key HIV medicines. Read more »

Barcelona/Paris/New York, September 22, 2009 – The south-western area of the Central African Republic (CAR) is facing a severe nutritional emergency, with more than 1,000 children at grave risk, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today. Read more »

Amman, August 7, 2009—More than 100 wounded patients have been assisted in the aftermath of a large bomb blast on the outskirts of the city of Mosul in northern Iraq today, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Read more »

Cape Town, July 20, 2009 – Stagnation in HIV/AIDS funding and the high cost of new medicines are putting the lives of thousands of poor patients at risk, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned today at the 2009 International AIDS Society conference in South Africa . Patients needing new drug regimens will return to AIDS “death row.” While the lack of access to antiretroviral treatment for seven million people remains unaddressed, inadequate financing now further threatens treatment scale-up. Read more »

Cape Town, July 17, 2009 - Recent disruptions in the supply of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs and other essential medical items in at least six African countries are putting HIV patients’ lives at risk, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today, in advance of the International AIDS Society Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. Read more »

Athens, July 13, 2009 — Following yesterday’s police operation at a makeshift camp for migrants in Patras and the subsequent fire that broke out, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) expresses concern for the medical and humanitarian condition of the migrants and asylum seekers who were left homeless, as well as those who were arrested. MSF urges authorities to ensure humane living conditions and the provision of medical assistance to this population. Read more »

Madrid, July 9, 2009 — The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) today launched a campaign to raise awareness of the parasitic disease Chagas. MSF is calling on countries where the disease is endemic to stop neglecting the disease by moving beyond prevention activities to increased diagnosis and treatment. Read more »