Médecins Sans Frontières - Webclip: Shortages of PPE due to COVID-19

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSF315481

Date taken / Date Recorded 16/04/2020 12:00 AM

Country Switzerland

Commissioning section MSF-SWITZERLAND

Photographer / videographer / producer Pierre-Yves Bernard

Usage Rights (MSF) External Media, MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available no

Editor's rating ★★★★★ (C)

Video format h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 2m26s

Maximum Size 1080px × 1080px 265.98 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist There are conflicts, there are war wounded, there are raped women who need abortions, there are children with malaria... Those people must be cared for. But without personal protective equipment, we can’t look after them.Christine JametDirector of Operations, MSFWith the arrival of Covid, the need for personal protective equipment has increased dramatically.While health care staff only used to need personal protective equipment for certain procedures, today all care staff are at risk of catching coronavirus because we don’t know who might potentially be carrying it. So, 100% of staff today must wear protection.The problem today is really one of stock. Obviously transportation is complicated; obviously bringing the equipment to the countries where we have operations is complicated. But there is insufficient production; there isn’t enough personal protective equipment. We all know that even in Europe there’s a lack of equipment, so how can we expect there to be enoughin the countries where we work? As a result, they’re doubly affected: they already have weak health systems and now they're also faced with this pandemic, they haven’t got the equipment to protect themselves, and they’re much less likely to be able to get it.What we need is for manufacturers to produce more and for companies that didn’t used to make masks or personal protective equipment to redirect their production to produce masks, because it's essential for us.Having no protection for our care staff or our colleagues from the Ministries of Health means that we're be-ing forced to reduce our medical action. For example, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we’re work-ing in an area where there are conflicts, there are war wounded, there are raped women who need abortions, there are children with malaria... Those people must be cared for. But without personal protective equipment, we can’t look after them. We can’t guarantee a minimum level of access to care. So yes, there is coronavirus, but there's everything else that needs to be taken care of too and, today, in this time of coronavirus, we have a responsibility to health care staff to give them the minimum necessary per-sonal protective equipment so that they can continue treating the most vulnerable people.There must be solidarity; we can’t keep working like this, without anything.

Webclip: Shortages of PPE due to COVID-19 - ENGLISH

Webclip: Shortages of PPE due to COVID-19 - ENGLISH