Across Cox´s Bazar, Bangladesh, nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions. As COVID-19 spreads through one of the most densely populated countries in the world, there are five key challenges to overcome.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is one of the largest medical-humanitarian organisations in the world, with operations in more than 70 countries. With our long history of responding to disease outbreaks and epidemics, we are in a unique position to help respond to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that is sweeping the globe.

As the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is unfolding, our teams are working in more than 70 countries around the world, providing urgent medical care for people fleeing violence, mothers giving birth and children needing treatment for measles or malnutrition. From the conflict in Syria to the continued displacement of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, these are some of the crises we must not forget in the time of Covid-19.

In Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, recurring outbreaks of cholera and typhoid fever are a pressing health concern. In many of the city’s suburbs, public water supply is unreliable, and leaking sewage pipes, pit latrines, and poor waste management contaminate the groundwater. Using innovative borehole technology and empowering communities to manage their own water points, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has developed a highly effective environmental health toolkit.

In 2020, an estimated 342,000 women died of cervical cancer. More than 90 per cent of those women lived in low- and middle-income countries. In the same year, 604,000 new cases were diagnosed.