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Hi Friend,
Earlier this year I returned from an assignment in Ukraine where I saw firsthand how the war is affecting people’s lives. On our medical trains, our staff members treat civilians with serious injuries—such as 12-year-old Paulina, who was recovering from serious injuries including shrapnel in her legs. She was transported on our medical train after a rocket attacked the building where her family was seeking shelter.
Children and elderly people make up a large proportion of patients with war-related injuries, according to a report by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Civilians should never be a target for war. A lack of respect for civilian protection is a serious violation of international humanitarian law. I am deeply concerned for the people who have been unable to safely evacuate war zones and are subjected to brutal attacks.
The firsthand accounts from patients like Paulina reveal the harrowing conditions that the war in Ukraine has created: Civilians have been attacked while evacuating war zones. Indiscriminate bombing and shelling have injured and killed people in residential areas. The types of wounds our teams treat are often extensive and horrific and affect people regardless of age or gender.
Our medical trains transport patients from overburdened Ukrainian hospitals close to active war zones to facilities in the west of the country where they can continue treatment. Since March 31, we’ve completed 37 journeys and medically evacuated 1,053 patients. During their 20-30 hour journeys to safer areas, many people have shared their experiences with our doctors and nurses.
“We had to leave everything behind,” says an 82-year-old man from the Lushank region of Ukraine. He said that the elderly have limited options due to mobility issues and many have been cut off from essential services such as health care. “I felt a profound fear[...] when I understood we had nowhere to go.”
MSF is determined to provide urgent, lifesaving support as the war in Ukraine continues. We have cared for hundreds of patients in the regions affected by heavy fighting and transported them to safer parts of the country.
This email was sent from the U.S. section of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international independent medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural and man-made disasters, and exclusion from health care.
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