Ärzte ohne Grenzen

THE HELPING PROJECT

The coronavirus pandemic is pushing health systems to their limits worldwide. We are trying to curb the spread of the virus as we can, and are already helping people fight Covid-19 in more than 40 countries. We advise authorities, build health centers and support particularly vulnerable groups such as the homeless, the elderly and refugees. Here is a current overview of our activities:

Germany | We are evaluating whether and how our support in the coronavirus pandemic would also be helpful in Germany. From our perspective, the German healthcare system is robust in international comparison, so that the question of an operational activity in Germany requires detailed examination. We are currently advising associations, organizations and charities, as well as representatives of state institutions and agencies that work with homeless people, refugees, people without papers, people without health insurance or other people in similarly precarious situations. You can send inquiries to the email address COVID19-response (at) berlin.msf.org. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide medical individual help, consultation hours on the phone, treatment or medical advice from individuals. In such cases, contact your general practitioner or the nearest clinic.

Belgium | With more than 100 colleagues, we are doing one of our biggest missions against the corona virus here. We support more than 150 nursing homes and vulnerable groups such as homeless and undocumented migrants. Our teams are deployed in hospitals in Mons and Antwerp. We also advise hospitals and aftercare centers to increase their admission capacities. Mobile teams visit care homes for the elderly in Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia, provide psychological support for the staff and help in the identification of infected people in order to isolate Covid 19 patients.

France | We look after mobile clinics and support coronavirus tests for the homeless and migrants in Paris and the Ile de France. We also provide medical aid in a Covid-19 center for the homeless and migrants south of Paris and in a hospital in Crétail. We supplied the Reims hospital with inflatable tents to increase the bed capacity.

Greece | In the camp on Samos, we support the isolation of uncomplicated cases. We evaluate which help is needed from the hospitals. In Lesvos, we developed an emergency plan for the Moria camp, which we requested to be evacuated. In addition to protecting our medical staff, we have also expanded the supply of clean water and sanitary facilities.

Italy | Around 25 of our employees support, among others, in Lombardy. three hospitals, general practitioners and outpatient nursing services to contain the pandemic. We started activities in the Marche region. We support a network of nursing homes in several cities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. 40 of our employees are currently working in Italy against Covid-19.

Netherlands | We offer psychological training for medical personnel in Covid-19 use. We have also started projects to check the health of homeless people.

Norway | We successfully ended support for a particularly heavily loaded hospital in the prevention and control of infections.

Portugal: Our teams support nursing homes by helping the authorities and management train staff and introduce infection prevention and control measures.

Switzerland | We support the Geneva University Hospital (HUG) with technical know-how. Under the coordination of the HUG, we have put together a mobile medical response team to care for people with Covid-19 at home who do not meet the criteria for hospitalization. We advise social workers on infection control measures and support particularly vulnerable groups such as the homeless and migrants. We also provide support in infection control and health advice in Lausanne.

Spain | In the past four weeks, we have given comprehensive advice to around a hundred nursing homes for the elderly and actively helped prevent infection. We also advocate palliative care for Covid 19 sufferers who, according to medical judgment, have no chance of survival. Our activities focus on Madrid and Catalonia, but we also support clinics in the north and south of the country.

Ukraine | We have started a coronavirus containment program and offer psychological telephone counseling.

THE ORGANIZATION

As a humanitarian medical organization, Médecins Sans Frontières is committed to providing high quality and efficient health care in countries where the survival of adults and children is at risk.
The medical projects worldwide differ, depending on the initial situation and the needs of the patients, but follow some guidelines that have developed over the years and have proven to be a dynamic framework:

Doctors Without Borders takes action when the national health system is no longer willing or able to help those affected. This is usually the case with armed conflicts and the consequences of flight and displacement, epidemics and natural disasters.
Because people’s survival is our top priority, life-saving activities are the focus. Medical treatment clearly has priority over prevention. Nonetheless, prevention is one of our activities wherever possible.
Doctors Without Borders primarily pursues a patient-centered, integrated treatment approach, i. H. We usually offer patients several specialist therapies for their various diseases in our programs. However, if a certain disease takes on epidemic proportions in a region, we also start disease-oriented treatment projects.
Depending on your needs, we provide basic medicine or surgical help, fight epidemics, carry out vaccination campaigns, operate nutritional centers for malnourished people, concentrate on mother-child care, offer psychological help or train local staff. We also treat infectious diseases such as HIV / AIDS, tuberculosis or Kala-Azar.
There are situations in which we seriously cannot help people who are seriously ill to heal. We offer palliative care to alleviate your suffering.
Although MSF primarily works medically, we also distribute relief supplies and food or build latrines. However, only if neither the state concerned nor actors from the United Nations (UN) or other aid organizations offer this help.
Helping survival for thousands of people requires guaranteeing them access to help as quickly as possible. The decentralization of our help offers is particularly important in order to maximize access for those affected.
If the lives of thousands of people are at stake, the aid must be as efficient as possible. Over the past four decades, MSF has standardized many medical processes and published numerous manuals that are updated regularly.
These guidelines are complemented by unique logistics based on many years of experience in humanitarian aid. Today there are 150 kits for various crisis situations (such as in disaster relief). These material boxes are always available and cleared by customs in large logistics centers in Bordeaux, Brussels and Nairobi.