Operational challenges

Since the end of 2017 the number of people internally displaced by violence in Ethiopia has risen significantly. As a result, the humanitarian community — including MSF — has suddenly found itself needing to adapt and scale up its response to meet the acute needs in conflict-driven crises.

In its 45 years history, Médecins Sans Frontières has used its presence in the field and its proximity to patients to bear witness and bring the plight of populations affected by disease, natural disasters and conflicts to the world’s attention.

La Casa Encendida Auditorium, Madrid

This seeks to document how the looming threat of violence –intentional or indiscriminate– against medical facilities, vehicles, staff and patients affects the medical care that can still be provided under these circumstances. Specifically, this report aims to document the adaptations forced by the threat of attacks on medical facilities in Syria, focusing on both the direct medical adaptations as well as the operational ones.

The report analyses the themes of violence against the medical mission in Aleppo and the surrounding rural area since the beginning of MSF’s intervention in 2012. MSF’s account of two years in Aleppo is one of immense complexity and adaptation to a highly volatile and constantly changing security context.