The World Health Organization’s declaration of Omicron as a “variant of concern” shows how critical it is to lift global COVID-19 vaccination rates. With the COVID-19 pandemic showing no signs of abating, prioritising access to COVID-19 medical tools for everyone, everywhere is essential.

Low vaccination rates increase the likelihood of new variants, such as Omicron, appearing. If we vaccinate the world more quickly, the chance of mutations drops.

Malaria continues to be a major health problem in South Sudan, with the ongoing humanitarian crisis impacting the severity of the outbreaks. With those under five years of age most at risk, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has launched a seasonal malaria chemoprevention program in Aweil to prevent infection and serious illness among children.

Some of the worst floods to hit South Sudan in decades have affected more than 780,000 people in the region. People’s homes and livelihoods—crops and cattle—as well as health facilities, schools, and markets, are submerged by floodwaters. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, and already existing displacement camps are at risk of being completely flooded, leading to even further displacement.

After more than six years of conflict, the Yemen crisis no longer makes top story headlines. But the war is not over, and the impact of this conflict on the wellbeing on those living in Yemen is extensive. 

Antonella Pozzi, mental health activity manager for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), discussed the mental health crisis in Yemen and the ways MSF is working to promote mental wellbeing.

Over the past decade, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has shifted its approach to mental health care to integrate it more deliberately in all activities. 

Today, mental health care is at the forefront of our projects from Latin America to Africa, to Asia and the Mediterranean Sea, as well as across Europe. In the past 10 years, mental health consultations in our projects have risen by 230 per cent worldwide.

Heavy rains have caused widespread flooding in South Sudan this year—affecting more than 400,000 people so far, according to United Nations estimates—while the rainy season continues.

Healthcare facilities were already scare across southern Haiti before the recent earthquake. Now earthquake survivors face a difficult journey to access the ongoing care they need. 

More than a week after Haiti's latest earthquake destroyed his home and fractured the bones of his leg, Widnika—just two years and seven months old—sleeps in a bed at MSF's Tabarre hospital in Port-au-Prince, with his mother Widline beside him. 

On Saturday 14 August 14, at 8:30 am local time, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked the southern peninsula of Haiti, causing extensive damage to buildings, houses, and main access roads in the three provinces of Grand'Anse, Nippes and Sud.

The provisional death toll is estimated at more than 1,300 with more than 5,700 people injured, according to Haitian authorities. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are conducting exploratory missions and are providing critical aid to those most affected.

Conflict has been steadily increasing in Afghanistan throughout 2021, with the region becoming increasingly insecure since announcements in April of US and NATO forces withdrawing their troops. With these troops gone, Afghan forces and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan—also known as the Taliban—are fighting for territory in clashes that continue to claim thousands of lives while crippling public infrastructure. 

MSF staff continue to treat patients in Afghanistan, adapting to the increasingly fragile situation and performing lifesaving surgery on victims of the violence.