The impact of the climate crisis is felt most acutely by people living in vulnerable situations, whose voices should be heard during the UN conference in Brazil. While the health impacts of the climate emergency are increasingly clear, health discussions have historically been sidelined in high-level debates at the UN’s climate conferences. COP30, taking place […]
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and artists unite to call for urgent action to protect at-risk communities with the release of the song “Oya,” ahead of the crucial COP30 climate talks in Brazil. Oya is an artistic initiative blending music and contemporary African dance to draw attention to the health consequences of climate change […]
Climate change is having devastating consequences for human health. A new report from Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)’s Humanitarian Action for Climate and Environment (HACE) Initiative and Heidelberg University Institute of Global Health describes how MSF humanitarian workers, patients and communities are experiencing and responding to a rapidly changing environment. Drawing on […]
Too little is being done to protect the most vulnerable people against the negative impacts of climate change, warns Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). World leaders gathering in Dubai for COP28 must take urgent measures to protect the health of the most affected communities. “The world’s most vulnerable people are paying with their health […]
Read More… from At COP28, more failure is not an option for vulnerable communities
This year, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and other humanitarian organizations has also responded to epidemics of climate-sensitive diseases, including multiple concurrent cholera outbreaks and the rise of dengue and malaria in several areas, including in conflict-affected settings. MSF and other aid organizations are already struggling to meet the rising health and humanitarian needs. […]
Read More… from MSF Policy Brief for The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change 2023
In Madagascar, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are witnessing an alarming rate of malnutrition in southeastern districts where families are dealing with a triple crisis of food insecurity, malaria, and extreme weather events. Between January and April over 1,200 children under five years old suffering from severe acute malnutrition were admitted to […]
Read More… from Madagascar: Struggling to survive a triple crisis
An alarming situation is unfolding in southeast Madagascar, where malnutrition is on the rise in rural communities. People in the southeastern Ikongo district face acute food shortages after harvests were destroyed in last year’s cyclones. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis of January 2023 shows that more than a quarter of the […]
Read More… from Madagascar: malnutrition spikes in the wake of climate shocks
More than 22 million people were estimated to need humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia in 2022.[1] Many faced the tragic consequences of conflict, particularly communities in the regions of Afar, Amhara, Tigray and Southern Nations (SNNPR). At the same time, natural disasters pushed people’s coping mechanisms to their limits. Communities across the vastness of the Somali […]
Read More… from Ethiopia: At the convergence of humanitarian and climate crises
By Michael Lawson, MSF Canada’s humanitarian affairs officer, and Léo Tremblay, a meteorologist with MSF’s Meteorological and Climate Assistance initiative South Sudan is no stranger to crises. More than eight million people in the country are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of displacement, food insecurity and exposure to violence, […]
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) responds to urgent medical and humanitarian crises in more than 70 countries. Our teams are providing medical care to those who are experiencing the health impacts of the climate emergency, many of whom are the least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. MSF is […]
Read More… from COP 27: The climate crisis is a health and humanitarian crisis