Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Luxembourg today released its annual report of the organisation's activities in the last year, revealing 384 humanitarian projects and intervention in 63 countries.

MSF stated that the year's end was marked by its intervention in numerous humanitarian crises, including the deadliest Ebola epidemic in history, with the virus killing more than 10,000 people; the number of displaced people and refugees worldwide reaching 60 million; and the war in Syria entering its fourth year.

The Ebola Outbreak in West Africa

The organisation claimed that those infected with Ebola in the three worst-affected countries were abandoned by the international community for over 7 months, with many patients dying with no access to care in front of treatment centres due to a lack of space. MSF claimed that due to the slow international reaction, the organisation was pushed to its limits and dedicated the majority of its resources towards care of sick people in Ebola centres. More than 5,000 infected people were cared for at MsF's 15 centres, more than 2,300 of which left cured.

1,300 international and 2,000 local members of MSF staff agreed to the risk of contamination in order to help individuals and communities affected by the epidemic, and for every 28 people infected, 14 members of staff died. Eight members of Luxembourg's MSF team visited one of the three most affected countries.

"The situation on the ground was horrible," said Dr. Rony Zachariah, Head of MSF LuxOR, during his mission to Sierra Leone. "Infected people were dying in agony. I think the most tragic part of the outbreak was not the virus itself...but the inaction from the international community on the ground. Deep in my heart, I felt a betrayal on the part of [those affected]. For the populations of West Africa. But also for the MsF teams on the ground who worked tirelessly to try stem the epidemic without being effectively supported.

In addition to its support in human resources, MSF Luxembourg also worked with Cargolux to maintain an aerial bridge between Europe and West Africa to bring 800 tonnes of equipment to the region at a time when no airline would agree to travel to the affected countries. MSF Luxembourg also urged the Department of Health to European medical evacuation system for humanitarian workers who became infected. The Government took the decision to fund the equipment of two aircraft of the Luxembourg Air Rescue (LAR) and MSF trained the personnel.

Syria - A Conflict of Brutal Violence

Now in its fifth year, the war in Syria is still characterised by brutal violence that indiscriminately targets civilians and combatants. 11 million people have had to flee their homes, of which 7.6 were displaced within the country and more then 4 million have sought refuge in Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan.

MSF stated that given its scale, the crisis should be accompanied by the greatest human intervention since the end of the Second World War, but instead access to the populations by humanitarian organisations still remains a major challenge. According to Médecins, violence and insecurity, attacks on structures and medical staff and a lack of governmental permission to work in Syria has meant that the organisation is still being prevented from developping necessary medical activities to meet the needs of the people. However, MSF claimed that it has still managed to govern six medical facilities inside Syria and provide direct support to more than 100 clinics.

LuxOR's Quality of Care Services

MSF emphasised the importance in operational research in the continuous improvement in the quality of assistance to vulnerable populations. It stressed that its operational research unit based in Luxembourg, LuxOR, continuously contributed to the support of healthcare in the field throughout the year in question.

In 2014, LuxOR directly supported nine filed missions, in Haiti, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Italy, Greece, Burundi and the Philippines. MSF stated that the recommendations issued by its Luxembourgish agency contributed to the quality of programmes and care of patients in the most challenging of settings. Dr. Engy Ali, a LuxOR physician, visited the Philippines in order to assess the impact of the distribution and use of home and boat reconstruction kits which were distributed by MSF after the Haiyan typhoon of November 2013. All homes surveyed reported having received and used these kits and 94% of people believed that the distribution of the kits between households was fair.

"When people spoke to me of the typhoon, they were crying, and when they thanked me, they thanked me in tears," said Dr. Ali.

Meanwhile, Wilma van den Boogaard went to Milan to study the monitoring of homeless patients after hospitalisation, According to estimates, 30% of all homeless people in Italy, which represents more than 13,000 people, live in Milan, a city of more than 1.5 million inhabitants. If continuity of care is not guaranteed, the likelihood is that when homeless people leave hospital they will return. In order to break the vicious cycle of successive rehospitalisation, MSF offered follow-up care in a medical centre for after people have checked out of hospital. This experience reportedly helped define a model of continuity of care for all homeless people in Italy.

MSF thanked its benefactors of 2014, stating that the generosity of Luxembourg's population was reflected in the €6.2 million it donated, alongside the contribution of €1 million from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for use in three specific projects and activities in public awareness. 89.5% of the money raised was allocated to the social mission of MSF, namely its humanitarian programmes.

"We warmly thank the 27,000 donors from Luxembourg who, through their gestures of solidarity, allowed us to provide medical assistance to the poorest populations," commented Dr. Guy Berchem, President of MSF Luxembourg.

MSF stated that in 2015 it is still continuing to assist those most in need and expressed its concern at the lack of involvement from the international community in the current humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean, which it claimed was 'transforming the Mediterranean into a necropolis'.

 

Photos by Médecins Sans Frontières (Bottom: Dr. Guy Berchem, President of MSF Luxembourg.)