Stories From Patients & Staff

Dr Graham Knottenbelt is an anaesthetist from Auckland

Dr Graham Knottenbelt is an anaesthetist from Auckland (Tāmaki Makaurau) who specialises in paediatric anaesthesia. He has recently completed his third assignment, in South Sudan, which marked a welcome return to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) after assignments in Sri Lanka and Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002-2003.

MSF driver Patrick A.Njok sits under a tree after driving through the long journey on a difficult terrain
30 Oct 2024

Patrick has been working for MSF for two years, ensuring that patients in need of essential medical care in Cross River get to hospital in time. Cross river is a region in southern Nigeria where, in areas such as Akor and Old Ndebeji, access to medical care has always been difficult.

Lebanon
25 Oct 2024

Amid the ongoing Israeli bombardment and incursions across southern Lebanon, countless families have been uprooted, many seeking refuge in the coastal city of Saida. 

 

Residents of Lankian attend music therapy session at MSF health facility
30 Oct 2024

In South Sudan, mental health issues are overshadowed by poverty, violence, and displacement. Neglected by the health system and confronted by deep-rooted stigma, many people face their mental health struggles in silence, enduring a daily battle that goes unseen and unheard.

28 Oct 2024

Dr. Ali Almohammed shares how the current situation in Lebanon reminds him of his own journey out of Syria in 2014.

Psychologist Dr Trudy Rosenwald with Mental Health Gap Dr Jackson at the new mental health clinic in Balukhali project
08 Oct 2024

Dr Trudy Rosenwald, who has worked as a mental health activity manager with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Bangladesh, explains the connection between physical and mental health.

Lebanon
30 Sep 2024

Following the heavy airstrikes over the weekend and the past week, MSF teams in Lebanon have been working around the clock to support people in shelters with water trucking, psychologist first aid, and donations of non-food items in and around Beirut. Many shelters are now overwhelmed in what is being described as the largest wave of displacement in Lebanon’s history.

Cholera
16 Sep 2024

As the conflict in Sudan continues, a cholera outbreak is sweeping across several states of central and eastern Sudan, bringing yet more risk, death and misery to people already bruised by the country’s brutal war. 

Cholera adds an additional challenge to the crisis amidst mass displacement, insecurity, and difficulties accessing medical care amid a humanitarian response that is far below what is needed. 

13 Sep 2024

In this first part of a two-part series, MSF staff at a hospital in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, talk to Shinjiro Murata, general director of MSF Japan, about the complex challenges of delivering healthcare to people in Myanmar.