Since the coronavirus pandemic began, we have focused on two priorities: responding to the spread of the virus and keeping already existing essential medical services up and running for the hundreds of thousands of patients who rely on us.

And while the world is focused on the direct impact of COVID-19, we know from decades of experience that the indirect effects of disease outbreaks can be just as devastating to overstretched health systems—if not more so—than the disease itself. Keeping essential health services accessible is vital to saving lives from malaria, measles, malnutrition, or complications during pregnancy. 

Doctors Without Borders is working to find creative ways to keep health care accessible during the pandemic and support frontline health care workers as they work around the clock to keep their patients—and themselves—safe. If you’re in a position to give right now, will you become a monthly donor today to help us continue responding to medical emergencies?

Our teams have had to quickly adapt to the unprecedented challenges of a world changed by COVID-19, when lockdowns and travel bans are restricting the movement of both medical staff and supplies. Our teams are working to keep essential medical projects running in the face of unprecedented challenges:

• Our maternal health projects in countries like Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, and Bangladesh, are ensuring women can still receive the care they need, engaging with trusted local community members such as local health workers and traditional birth attendants to identify when a woman needs to go to a hospital because of complications.

• We've reduced the number of routine consultations and are instead distributing prescriptions that will last longer in our HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis C, and noncommunicable disease projects in countries as diverse as South Africa, Ukraine, Pakistan, and Cambodia, while also ensuring patients receive follow-up through phone consultations, messaging apps, and peer support networks.

• Many of our mental health services in places like El Salvador, Palestine, and India now offer hotlines while counselors and psychologists provide consultations by phone. In Kashmir, where the COVID-19 lockdown has prevented MSF teams from running in-person mental health clinics, our teams have found that offering telehealth counseling has actually made these vital services available to even more people than initially anticipated.

Even as many are attempting to reopen, we know that this crisis is far from over. If you’re in a position to give right now, you can help us prepare for a sustained response.

Make your first monthly gift right now to help Doctors Without Borders continue to deliver urgent medical aid in over 70 countries.

Thank you, 

Doctors Without Borders