2024: The year in photos

2024 saw Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams responding to various emergencies spanning the globe.

In places like Sudan, Palestine, Haiti, and Ukraine, grinding conflicts continued to fuel humanitarian needs. We saw outbreaks of diseases like mpox in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), dengue in Honduras, and even the resurgence of polio in Gaza. And the climate emergency spurred devastating floods in places like Brazil, Chad, and Nigeria, bringing high risks for people’s health. MSF teams adapted operations to respond to each of these emergencies while maintaining critical regular activities supporting health care in places where the needs are greatest. And around the world, they bore witness to moments of resilience, solidarity, and hope in the face of adversity.

"My ambulance was a donkey"

Ahmad, a father of four who lives in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza, was farming potatoes when he was shot from a helicopter. In the absence of ambulance services he was brought by donkey to Rafah Indonesian Field Hospital, where he was admitted for 10 days. Upon discharge he returned to the camp, where he had to borrow a wheelchair from a neighbor. “Every day they ask me to return it, but I can’t move without it,” he says. 

Fleeing violence in Darfur

In Sudan, intense fighting between Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces once again plunged the country into crisis. In Darfur, people from the Masalit ethnic group have been the target of horrific violence. “I lost my arm because I couldn't get medical attention in time,” says Adam, who was shot in the arm in El Geneina before fleeing to Chad along with hundreds of thousands of other people. In the week it took to finally access care, his wound had become infected, necessitating amputation. 

Adam’s parents had previously fled to Chad in 2003 when Janjaweed militias burned their village. They eventually returned to El Geneina, but Adam is not hopeful that his family will have the same opportunity. "There's no way we can go back to Sudan this time,” he says.

A neglected crisis in the Sahel

Since 2012, northern and central Mali have been gripped by violence between security forces and non-state armed groups that has largely unfolded outside the world’s headlines. Civilians frequently bear the brunt of clashes. 

At Niono Hospital in the Ségou region, where MSF provides surgical care, almost 70 percent of operations carried out earlier this year were for women and children. Our team helped care for 9-year-old Kadi (wrapped in a foil emergency blanket), who was shot three times during an attack on her village.

Emergency care near Ukraine's front line

”Unfortunately, many hospitals in Donetsk region are now destroyed and people there can no longer receive care, so we transport patients to safer places where there are more doctors and more equipment,” says Diana Bilonozko, an MSF team member. Here, she helps a patient into an ambulance after a dialysis procedure.

The journey from Venezuela

Joannaly, Ricardo, Diego, and Israel braved a dangerous route north from Venezuela, crossing the jungle where refugees and migrants face high rates of violence and abuse, along with difficult terrain and physical exhaustion.

“The nights have been long because we have slept in the open, although we have received help along the way,” one of them says. “We dream of having what we did not have in Venezuela.”

Venezuelans make up one of the largest groups of migrants at key border crossings such as the Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia, Tumbes on the Peru-Ecuador border, and the US border with Mexico. Many are fleeing poverty and violence. Across the world, 117.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes due to violent conflict, natural disasters, and economic or political upheaval—more than at any other point in modern history.

Refugees and returnees in South Sudan

Refugees and returnees fleeing the war in Sudan board a bus at the Joda border crossing with South Sudan. From there, the bus will take them to the transit center in Renk, where living conditions are dire, with limited food, water, shelter, sanitation facilities, and medical care. Many of the 2 million people who have fled Sudan are returning to their roots in South Sudan, after having fled earlier cycles of violence and upheaval.

A new exodus

More than 7 million people are displaced across Democratic Republic of Congo—a record for the country. The vast majority of displaced people live in the eastern region, where fighting between the M23 armed group and the Congolese army and its allies intensified this year. Repeated mass waves of displacement have impacted health care. The facilities that remain open struggle to cope with large influxes of people fleeing the violence.

Floods in Mali

MSF staff cross the Niger River aboard a small motorboat, the only means of transportation following floods in August. In response, MSF mobilized its medical and logistical teams to carry out assessments of flood-affected areas and donated essential household items to almost 600 flood-affected families.

The search for shelter

A young woman prepares a meal at dusk outside her shelter in Aboutengue refugee camp in Chad, where more than 44,000 Sudanese refugees live, the majority women and children. They are among more than 700,000 people who have fled Sudan to Chad since war broke out in April 2023. Most live in dusty desert camps without sufficient access to basic needs and services like food, shelter, and medical care.

Release

A refugee releases a pet dove her family keeps in their tent in Arsal, northeastern Lebanon. A survivor of child marriage who is now widowed and lost her own children in a fire, she has endured severe mental trauma. She is healing herself and others by promoting mental health support. More than 1.5 million Syrian refugees fled the war to Lebanon, where the health system is fragile and overburdened. Fear of deportation often prevents many from seeking medical care. MSF teams have been providing care—including pediatrics, sexual and reproductive health care, vaccinations, and mental health support—for over a decade in this region.

Safe birth in Gaza

Hin So, an MSF midwife activity manager, holds a newborn baby at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza. The war has completely disrupted access to maternal health care in Gaza, exposing both mothers and their children to serious and even life-threatening health risks. With hospitals either nonfunctional or overwhelmed with
casualties, there are very few options for care during pregnancy and childbirth. Many women have had to give birth in tents or public spaces, such as bathrooms.

Rescue on the horizon

Passengers on an overcrowded wooden boat rejoice as MSF’s search and rescue vessel, Geo Barents, approaches in response to a distress alert sent via an emergency hotline. During this rescue, MSF teams pull more than 100 people to safety, including two children under three years old.

The journey to recovery

After embarking on his journey of recovery from drug addiction five years ago, Michael Karongo has rejoined his community and now owns a business and goes to school. He received holistic care through MSF’s medically assisted therapy program for people with addiction in Kiambu, Kenya. Despite high rates of drug use, particularly heroin, in this area, for years there was no existing medical facility to provide this care.

Maternal care for new arrivals

A midwife holds the hands of a pregnant Sudanese woman during a prenatal consultation at a refugee camp in Adré.

Medical evacuation from Gaza for specialized care

Karam, 17, nearly died after his family's house was leveled by an Israeli airstrike, leaving him with severe burns to his face and body. He was able to medically evacuate Gaza and is now undergoing comprehensive reconstructive surgery and physiotherapy at an MSF hospital in Amman, Jordan. Thousands of sick and wounded Gazans require specialized care unavailable in Gaza, yet many remain trapped, blocked from evacuation. 

Improvising fun in a refugee camp

Mazim, 12 (left) wears his Barcelona jersey as he plays football with his younger brother using a ball he made using a sock filled with plastic bags. Rayan, 7, (right) who is from Ardamatta, made teacups out of mud to reenact her favorite game. “I play tea party with the other children,” she said. “I make everything with mud I find in the camp after the rain and let it dry in the sun.”

Bubbles at the border

Children blow bubbles upon crossing the US-Mexico border in Arizona, where MSF is providing support for local groups responding to the needs of migrants and asylum seekers.