Crisis Update – October 2015

Humanitarian response has so far been insufficient, concentrated in safer areas and short term. Recent cuts in funding have been increasingly affecting the level of assistance offered to Syrian refugees, displaced populations and host communities. Crisis Update - 11 Nov 2015

Slovenia

People in transit in urgent need of assistance

Thousands of people are entering Slovenia daily along its border with Croatia, overwhelming the capacity of transit centres, and forcing many to spend the night outdoors in cold fields. Press Release - 26 Oct 2015

Mediterranean migration

In Calais, inhuman treatment of exiles

They have fled Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea and are living now in Calais, at the site known as “the Jungle.” Others are in Paris in an abandoned high school. Pauline Busson, MSF head of mission, describes these exiles’ living conditions, as they try to find a way to reach England or seek a future in France. Voices from the Field - 21 Oct 2015

Chad

Plunging from one nutrition crisis to the next

MSF's medical teams are responding to a nutrition crisis in Bokoro, in the Hadjer-Lamis region of central Chad.“Providing feeding programmes and medical assistance to acutely malnourished children is essential, but it is simply not enough to stop hundreds of thousands of children across Chad repeatedly descending into emergency levels of malnutrition,” says Alberto Jodra, MSF head of mission in Chad. “Far more needs to be done to address malnutrition’s multiple structural causes and to ease the suffering of communities like Bokoro from plunging from one hunger crisis to the next.” Project Update - 16 Oct 2015

Mediterranean migration

“The determination of the refugees to reach their destination is shocking.”

Interview with Jota Echevarría, MSF medical coordinator first in Hungary and Serbia and later in Croatia, who describes MSF activities since the beginning of its operations in Hungary. Voices from the Field - 15 Oct 2015

Central African Republic

Thousands flee latest violence in Bangui

40,000 people have fled from their neighbourhoods. “They left with nothing and now they’re living in the most appalling conditions. Most have no shelter, no food and almost no access to medical care”, says Jean-Guy Vataux, MSF head of mission in Bangui. Project Update - 14 Oct 2015

Central African Republic

MSF brings medicines and basic care to a remote area in the north-eastern province of Vakaga

“When we arrived the first week of September we found a very precarious situation as regards healthcare,” said the MSF's head of the medical intervention, Chiara Domenichini. “The community provided us with mortality data that were very alarming, more than twice what is considered an emergency situation.” MSF's emergency team in CAR has carried out a brief intervention in the remote north-eastern province of Vakaga, where humanitarian aid has been scarce despite the clear effects of years of conflict and displacement and the shortage of health resources in the area, which is home to about 70,000 people. Voices from the Field - 28 Sep 2015

Serbia

MSF reinforces activities after Hungary border closure

“Closing borders is not a solution, it just pushes responsibility to a neighbouring country and forces people to take more risks and makes their journey even harder, with a clear impact on their health” says Ana de Lemos, MSF project coordinator. “As long as conflicts continue in countries of origin, people will continue to be forced to become refugees, and they will continue to have to find ways out no matter the obstacles.” Project Update - 17 Sep 2015

Greece

MSF team providing psychological support and medical care to survivors of shipwreck off Farmakonisi island

On Sunday 13 September, a wooden boat carrying more than 130 refugees and migrants sank off the Greek island of Farmakonisi. An MSF team from Kos was sent to Leros immediately to provide mental health support and medical care to survivors. "People are shocked and terrified by the experience. There are people who lost their relatives, others who lost their children”, says Vangelis Orfanoudakis, MSF coordinator. Project Update - 15 Sep 2015

Greece

Closure of Captain Elias camp in Kos leaves refugees even more vulnerable

“It is unacceptable that this closure was not accompanied by any decision from the authorities to provide other facilities for refugees arriving in Kos” said Elisa Galli, MSF Field Coordinator in Kos. “Captain Elias was far from ideal, but now people have absolutely nowhere to go. There is no clarity on what will happen next, and authorities are not assuming their responsibilities about the well-being of these vulnerable people. As we have said repeatedly, the authorities need to ensure that adequate reception facilities are provided.” Project Update - 11 Sep 2015

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