Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced that it has provided medical support to more than 50,000 people in the Libyan cities of Tripoli, Misrata, Az-Zawya, Zuwara, Bin Walid, Nesma, Zletan, and Khoms in 2022.
“We offer assistance to people who need medical and psychological support. It does not matter which country they are from, or what their political affiliations are. We give priority to those in the most severe and immediate danger. Our principles reflect our work on the ground; patients first, impartiality, independence, bearing witness, neutrality, and transparency.” Says Gabriele Ganci, MSF Head of Mission in Libya.
“It is fundamental to our humanitarian organization to always act in the best interest of patients, also respect their confidentiality, their right to make their own decisions and do them no harm.” Gabriele Ganci said, “To ensure access to medical care, we also sometimes provide social support to help people reach their basic needs. This ensures that we provide quality medical services to Libyans and non-Libyans.” He added.
The teams of MSF provide primary health care, mental health support, and sexual and reproductive health consultations in health facilities, inside detention centers, and in urban settings to Libyans and non-Libyans. The teams also offer protection services, aiming to identify vulnerable people and refer them for specialist care in hospitals and to other organizations in Tripoli that could meet their specific needs.
MSF started assisting people in Libya after the conflict started in the country in 2011, supporting public health facilities such as Public Health Care Centres, hospitals, and Directorate for Combatting Illegal Migration’s Detention Centres.
It is the only organization in the country supporting access to treatment for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The organization also supported more than 6500 consultations in the National Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC) TB clinic and at the National Tuberculosis Programme’s (NTP) Outpatient Department (OPD) in Misrata and Tripoli.
Notably, MSF is an international, independent medical humanitarian organization, founded in France in 1971 and now working in more than 75 countries around the world with a movement of 65,000 people, providing medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare.