(MSF) ‘Doctors Without Borders’ Highlights Dire Humanitarian Crises in Autumn 2025 Dispatches
By International News Desk 18 November 2025
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, has released its Autumn 2025 edition of Dispatches, painting a stark picture of escalating medical emergencies across multiple conflict zones and neglected crises worldwide. From overcrowded incubators in Gaza to measles outbreaks in Sudan and surgery by headlamp near Ukraine’s frontline, the 15-page report underscores the organisation’s struggle to deliver care amid violence, resource shortages, and the growing targeting of healthcare.
Gaza: Premature Babies Share Incubators as Maternal Health Collapses
In northern Gaza, only 36 neonatal incubators remain functional compared to 126 before October 2023, forcing MSF teams at Al-Helou Hospital to place up to five premature infants in a single unit. Medical team leader Dr Joanne Perry described the practice as “completely unacceptable,” warning of soaring infection risks and the absence of basic diagnostics such as ultrasound and X-ray machines.
Severe anaemia and malnutrition among pregnant women – exacerbated by displacement, lack of clean water, and interrupted antenatal care – are driving premature births. Power cuts from fuel shortages have already claimed newborn lives when oxygen supplies failed. “Having a baby should be a moment of joy and hope – but now it is clouded by stress and fear,” Dr Perry said.
Global Healthcare Under Attack: MSF Launches “Not a Target” Campaign
The report labels 2024 the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers, with 377 killed, and warns 2025 is on a worse trajectory. Hospitals in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, and elsewhere are increasingly bombed, looted, or blockaded. MSF is urging the UK government to unconditionally condemn all attacks on medical facilities and personnel, with an online petition titled “Our Red Line”.
Ukraine: Operating Theatres Plunged into Darkness Near Shifting Frontline
In Dnipropretrovsk region, MSF surgeons treat blast wounds, open fractures, and advanced sepsis in patients who have delayed care while hiding in basements. Frequent power outages caused by attacks on energy infrastructure force staff to continue operations using headlamps or pause until generators start. In 2024 alone, MSF conducted 1,149 surgeries and treated 435 intensive-care patients in Ukraine’s frontline regions.
Sudan: Last Remaining Aid Group in Forgotten Darfur Crisis
In the isolated Jebel Marra area of central Darfur, MSF is often the sole humanitarian actor left after other organisations fled escalating violence. Teams vaccinated over 9,000 children against measles in late 2024 and treat severe malnutrition, but food distributions stopped in April 2023. In Sortoni camp, home to 52,000 displaced people, and nearby Burgo village, water shortages are critical. Project coordinator Marwan Taher warned: “Without collective action… the future here risks slipping from strained to catastrophic.”
Innovation Amid Crisis: New Play Therapy Toolkit for Traumatised Children
Recognising that children comprise over 60 per cent of patients in many MSF projects, the organisation has rolled out a Play Therapy Toolkit. Developed in Sierra Leone, it uses everyday items – empty syringes, medicine bottles, rice-filled shakers – to create low-cost toys that aid brain development, reduce stress, and support recovery from trauma and malnutrition.
Zimbabwe Nurse Reflects on Two Decades of Ground-breaking Care
Zimbabwean nurse Shingairai Mawarire recounts 18 years with MSF, from opening one of the country’s first free HIV clinics in 2006, to treating drug-resistant TB, establishing sexual-violence services marked by a discreet “Green Door”, and pioneering mental-health reintegration programmes in prisons. “We’ve shown that the impossible can be done,” she said.
Snapshot of MSF Operations Worldwide
The report also details ongoing work in Afghanistan (supporting eight remote health centres), Nigeria (treating 328,687 malnourished children in 2024), Kenya (responding to a kala-azar outbreak), Myanmar (mental health support after the March earthquake), and France (day centre for unaccompanied minors in Marseille).
MSF stresses that private donations fund nearly all its work and repeats its frequent refrain: “We couldn’t do it without you.” As attacks on healthcare reach unprecedented levels, the organisation insists more actors must step in, warning that in many places it is dangerously close to being the last lifeline standing.
For the full Autumn 2025 Dispatches magazine and to support MSF’s campaigns, visit msf.org.uk.
