Médecins Sans Frontières - /ENG/ Stephen Cornish back from the field

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSB224807

Date taken / Date Recorded 27/03/2025 3:02 PM

Country Chad, Sudan

Commissioning section MSF-SWITZERLAND

Photographer / videographer / producer Pierre-Yves Bernard

Copyright MSF

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

Formal Consent Copy available no

Editor's rating ★★★ (F)

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

Duration 3m30s

Maximum Size 1920px × 1080px 385.17 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist Well, first off, it was important for me to go there because it's the world's largest humanitarian crisis.
TXT
Stephen Cornish, the General Director of MSF Switzerland, has returned from Sudan and Chad. Our teams on the ground are delivering the most critical humanitarian and medical aid to those in need.
Stephen shares with us glimpses from his field visits, engaging with the staff and the populations inside Sudan, as well as the displaced people who have fled Sudan to the camps in eastern Chad.
MAP - Sudan - Chad - El Gedaref State
Chad- Um Rakuba

This picture here is a ward and one of the nice things here and it's also one of the pictures I brought back is we're doing about 70 births a month at this facility.
We've trialed a new system where we've been able to augment that medical care so that we're able to treat premature infants. And what was really beautiful to see there is some of these little babies who have been on the ward for 30 days, 40 days. They were premature, malnourished. And with the free and quality of care that we're able to provide, even in this desert setting, those babies are now thriving. And to look in their mother's eyes, to see the hope, the love and the gratitude is really heartwarming.

This photo here is quite a striking photo and it shows people being treated in a cholera treatment center.
A third of the population has been displaced inside Sudan. This has led to wide scale needs, but also many of them are living in very poor conditions with lack of water and sanitation. And that makes a perfect opportunity for cholera to break out.
Some of those places, the cholera fatality ratio is up in the 10 to 20% in this area here where MSF is working in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, we managed to get ahead of the epidemic and give very solid treatment, good early detection and reduce the mortality rate to under 1%.

This is a great picture. Brings back amazing memories. This is Dr. Sharif. Dr Sharif has been a key member of our team over many, many years in Sudan. He worked with us in the El Geneina teaching hospital and was also deployed to a number of situations over the years where we had emergencies inside Sudan. When the war started, he kept his position in our hospital, but after a while the pressure became too much and he and 40 family members had to flee themselves into safety and refuge in Chad. And no sooner did he arrive that he retook contact with MSF. He's now our head pharmacist at Aboutengue camp. And that really gave me great pride to know that he was safe, able to use his skills and making a difference for those all around.

CONCLUSION
TEXT:

24 months—2 full years—of a merciless war, a war on people.
Silence kills… This cannot wait.

What needs to be done in this situation as it's the largest medical humanitarian emergency in the world, we need to be treating it as such. We need more press coverage. We have to talk about Sudan and the situation. We need more organizations on the ground, more funding to be able to meet the needs. But we also need governments in the UN and others to apply political pressure to the warring parties so they avoid targeting civilians and medical structures, so they allow unhindered access for humanitarian assistance. And of course we need people's support and we count on the support from around the world that makes our work possible.