Le vice-gouverneur de l'Etat de Kano, au Nord du Nigéria, vient d'annoncer que le gouvernement arrêterait et poursuivrait les familles refusant de soumettre leurs enfants à la vaccination contre la poliomyélite. 

Two operational situations have recently caused Médecins Sans Frontières to confront the question of torture and the instrumentalisation of medicine by those who practise it.

Entretien avec Françoise Bouchet-Saulnier, directrice juridique de MSF

Humanitarian medicine is made up of a wide range of practices with few obvious connections between them. Battlefield medicine and surgery, rural dispensaries in remote areas, campaigns to raise awareness about health problems in poor countries, emergency teams in disaster situations, vaccination campaigns, health education, help for marginalised groups in affluent countries and public health advice are just some examples of actions that fall within the scope of “humanitarian medicine” when they are carried out by organisations and in circumstances that can be classified as “humanitarian”.

Two scientific studies published last year confirmed the origin of the cholera epidemic that struck Haiti in October 2010. It was indeed caused by massive amounts of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae in the Artibonite river delta, originating from the sewage in the Minustah soldiers' camp.

In "Wartime rapes: men, too", I discussed an article, "The rape of men", by Will Storr published in The Observer on 17 July 2011. 

It seemed appropriate to assemble these texts now, at a time when the history of our AIDS missions is compelling us to formulate new goals. 

Since the beginning of the 2000s, a number of English-language researchers have regularly asked the following question: why do international aid organisations pay so little attention to rapes of men and boys committed during armed conflicts?

For the past several months, news about food shortages and famines affecting large segments of the East African population have been fueling donation appeals from major public and private aid organizations.

Four hepatitis E epidemics have occurred in the areas in which we operate since 2000, prompting a reflection on the quality of the water produced and distributed to their populations by humanitarian organisations.

L'épidémie de choléra qui sévit depuis près d'un mois à Haïti met en évidence la faiblesse du dispositif international de réponse à des épisodes aigus de ce type. Les violences dirigées contre les soldats de la Minustah, accusés par la rumeur publique d'être les vecteurs de cette maladie infectieuse, nous rappellent que les épidémies attisent les peurs.

A Haïti, la communauté internationale tente de juguler l'épidémie de choléra qui a déjà fait 300 morts et 4.000 personnes hospitalisées. Médecins Sans frontières notamment est sur place et le travail n'est pas facile car cette maladie fait très peur.