The year 2020 was extremely challenging for people all over the world, as they experienced extraordinary levels of disease, loss, fear and isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. In many countries where Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) works – and some in which we normally don’t – the pandemic exacerbated existing healthcare issues caused by conflict, displacement and poverty.
In one of the most demanding years in our almost half-century of providing assistance, our teams worked in nearly 90 countries to respond to COVID-19 and other emergencies, violence and disease outbreaks, that were made more complex by the pandemic.