A MONTH IN FOCUS – December 2015Palestinian Territories – Invisible Wounds (Focus)Afghanistan – Maternity Care in Kabul (News)France – Volunteers’ much-needed assistance (News) South Sudan – Far from any hospital care (Snapshot)Migration - Similar paths but very different stories (A voice from the field)
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
(Headlines)
10 years ago, MSF set up a mental health programme in Nablus in the West Bank.
The programme aims to alleviate the psychological suffering of adults and
children subjected to the violence caused by the Israeli occupation.
Script The old town of Nablus in the West Bank. Shireen Nazzal is a social worker. She isvisiting families in villages south of Nablus where there are many Israeli settlements.Shireen encounters the same stress and anxiety during all her visits.
Shireen Nazzal, social worker, MSF (in English)
They are very tired because they can’t sleep at night. They do shifts, when the mother is
awake the father sleeps, and after that the father stays awake and the mother sleeps…
Because they are worried the settlers will burn their house or break their house.
That’s how life is in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Everyone here remembers the18-month old boy who was killed when Israeli settlers set fire to his home. That wasback in July. The incident has deeply affected Wissam Asayieh’s patients
Wissam Asayieh, psychologist (in English)
The people watch TV, to follow the news, what’s happening here and especially on the
checkpoints near the settlements, the clashes with the soldiers and the settlers. A lot of
injuries, a lot of killed people, martyrs, a lot of arrestation, high numbers compared with
the other months. The people now follow all these news and start to have more anxiety,
more sleeping disorders, the children focus with the families also on the news, and it affects
their concentration and their school performance. In the past few months the violence has increased yet again and the repression is evenmore merciless. The people aren’t sleeping properly, not only because of nightmares butalso because of the Israeli soldiers who storm into their homes day or night tointerrogate and arrest them. Including adolescents, like this boy who was arrested forthrowing stones.
ITW Greg Keane, psychiatrist (in English)
For young people, they experience these daily humiliations, their economic futures are really
shortened in comparison to other adolescents. They watch their fathers and mothers
humiliated. They are targeted for no reason other than their appearanc. And watching this
day after day, you can imagine for any young person how that might really get you down.
And, you know, you combine that with impulsivity and maybe a tendency to answer back or
to fight back and the consequences can be deadly.Offering support to those suffering from trauma caused by a conflict they’re powerlessto do anything about – such is the daily task of the psychologists, social workers anddoctors working on MSF’s programme.
AFGHANISTAN
(Headlines) In November 2014, MSF opened an emergency unit specialised in obstetrics
and neonatal care at the public hospital in west Kabul neighborhood Dasht-e-Barchi.
It is one of the rare facilities in this area of the capital to provide free healthcare.
As is the case across Kabul, the population here in Dasht-e-Barchi has exploded, and over
one million people are now living in this neighborhood.
Private clinics here charge 90 dollars for a normal delivery and 700 for a caesarean.
A huge amount most families simply cannot afford.
Soundbite (MSF nurse to translator)
- Did she lay flat for twelve hours?
- Yes. Good.
MSF has set up a fully-equipped emergency obstetrics unit to help reduce mother and child
mortality.
Soundbite (MSF nurse to translator)
- Can you tell the them the baby is too big and is not coming down. We’ve tried everything,
we’re going to do a caesarean sect