2024: The year in photos

Scenes of resilience, solidarity, and hope from a year of turmoil around the world.

A woman releases a dove into the sky in Lebanon.

A Syrian refugee releases a pet dove her family keeps in their tent in Arsal, Lebanon, close to the border. | Lebanon 2024 © Carmen Yahchouchi

Alert is a biannual magazine published by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF USA) that features ground reporting from our work around the world. Below are excerpts from the Winter 2024 issue (Vol. 25, no. 2), The Year in Photos.

2024 saw Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams responding to various emergencies spanning the globe.

In places like Sudan, Palestine, Haiti, and Ukraine, grinding conflicts continued to fuel humanitarian needs. We saw outbreaks of diseases like mpox in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), dengue in Honduras, and even the resurgence of polio in Gaza. And the climate emergency spurred devastating floods in places like Brazil, Chad, and Nigeria, bringing high risks for people’s health. MSF teams adapted operations to respond to each of these emergencies while maintaining critical regular activities supporting health care in places where the needs are greatest. And around the world, they bore witness to moments of resilience, solidarity, and hope in the face of adversity.

The intensive care unit team at MSF’s hospital in Metché camp in eastern Chad works to resuscitate a 10-year-old suffering from tracheal bronchitis and septic shock.
Chad 2024 © Finbarr O’Reilly/VII Photo

Health care across borders

Metché camp, Chad

The intensive care unit team at MSF’s hospital in Metché camp in eastern Chad work to resuscitate a 10-year-old suffering from tracheal bronchitis and septic shock. Dr. Faiza Hamed Hangata (center) is from El Geneina in Sudan’s Darfur region, which has become a flashpoint of violence in the conflict. A large number of refugees crossing the border into Chad come from this part of Sudan, and many have experienced targeted ethnic violence.

Children blow bubbles next to a fence along the US-Mexico border.
United States 2024 © Christoper Lee

Bubbles at the border

Tucson, Arizona


Children blow bubbles upon crossing the US-Mexico border in Arizona, where MSF is providing support for local groups responding to the needs of migrants and asylum seekers. 

An injured Palestinian man in a wheelchair returns to his tent.
Palestine 2024 © MSF

"My ambulance was a donkey"

Rafah, Gaza


Ahmad, a father of four who lives in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza, was farming potatoes when he was shot from a helicopter. In the absence of ambulance services he was brought by donkey to Rafah Indonesian Field Hospital, where he was admitted for 10 days. Upon discharge he returned to the camp, where he had to borrow a wheelchair from a neighbor. “Every day they ask me to return it, but I can’t move without it,” he says. 

A man with an amputated arm in Chad.
Chad 2024 © Corentin Fohlen/Divergence

Fleeing violence in Darfur

Adré, Chad


In Sudan, intense fighting between Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces once again plunged the country into crisis. In Darfur, people from the Masalit ethnic group have been the target of horrific violence. “I lost my arm because I couldn't get medical attention in time,” says Adam, who was shot in the arm in El Geneina before fleeing to Chad along with hundreds of thousands of other people. In the week it took to finally access care, his wound had become infected, necessitating amputation. 

Adam’s parents had previously fled to Chad in 2003 when Janjaweed militias burned their village. They eventually returned to El Geneina, but Adam is not hopeful that his family will have the same opportunity. "There's no way we can go back to Sudan this time,” he says.

Surgery in Haiti.

Haiti 2024 © Réginald Louissaint Junior

Caught in the crossfire in Haiti

Tabarre, Haiti


A patient who was shot in the foot during clashes between armed groups and the police undergoes treatment in the operating room at MSF’s hospital in Tabarre, Haiti. Years of political turmoil and violence between armed groups have severely impacted people’s physical and mental health in Haiti, while hindering access to hospitals and other essential services. Civilians are often caught in the crossfire.

Surgical Care in Niono
Mali 2024 © Mohamed Dayfour Diawara

A neglected crisis in the Sahel

Niono, Mali


Since 2012, northern and central Mali have been gripped by violence between security forces and non-state armed groups that has largely unfolded outside the world’s headlines. Civilians frequently bear the brunt of clashes. 

At Niono Hospital in the Ségou region, where MSF provides surgical care, almost 70 percent of operations carried out earlier this year were for women and children. Our team helped care for 9-year-old Kadi (wrapped in a foil emergency blanket), who was shot three times during an attack on her village.

MSF ambulance worker helps a patient sit in the ambulance after a dialysis procedure in Ukraine.
Ukraine 2024 © Olexandr Glyadyelov

Emergency care near Ukraine's front line

Donetsk, Ukraine


”Unfortunately, many hospitals in Donetsk region are now destroyed and people there can no longer receive care, so we transport patients to safer places where there are more doctors and more equipment,” says Diana Bilonozko, an MSF team member. Here, she helps a patient into an ambulance after a dialysis procedure.

MSF ambulance crews help a man who has suffered an explosive injury in Ukraine.

Ukraine 2024 © Olexandr Glyadyelov

Mine injuries in Ukraine

Donetsk, Ukraine


An MSF ambulance team assists Ihor after a mine explosion left him with burns and broken ribs, making it difficult to breathe. MSF ambulances help support Ukraine’s health system with referrals and emergency medical evacuations along the war’s ever-changing front lines.  

PHOTOS - Migrants describe crossing Guatemala as one of the most difficult parts of their migration journey
Guatemala 2024 © Fernando Alvarado/MSF

The journey from Venezuela

Tecún Umán, Guatemala


Joannaly, Ricardo, Diego, and Israel braved a dangerous route north from Venezuela, crossing the jungle where refugees and migrants face high rates of violence and abuse, along with difficult terrain and physical exhaustion.

“The nights have been long because we have slept in the open, although we have received help along the way,” one of them says. “We dream of having what we did not have in Venezuela.”

Venezuelans make up one of the largest groups of migrants at key border crossings such as the Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia, Tumbes on the Peru-Ecuador border, and the US border with Mexico. Many are fleeing poverty and violence. Across the world, 117.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes due to violent conflict, natural disasters, and economic or political upheaval—more than at any other point in modern history.

A man holds a hat aboard a ship in the Mediterranean Sea.

Mediterranean Sea 2024 © Mohamad Cheblak/MSF

"This hat means a lot to me"

Mediterranean Sea


“When I was detained in Libya, I used this hat to cover my eyes and sleep so I wouldn’t see the overcrowded circumstances in which people were living,” says Mohammed, one of 134 people MSF teams rescued from a boat in distress in the Mediterranean Sea on February 5. His mother gave him this hat before he left Syria two years prior, and it became an important keepsake over the course of his long journey. ”If I were to lose it, no other hat could replace it.”

A woman holds her SIM card atop her phone in the Mediterranean Sea.

Mediterranean Sea 2024 © Annalisa Ausilio/MSF

Precious connections

Mediterranean Sea


When Precious left Nigeria, she was terrified of losing all the contacts on her phone: “It’s the only link I have left with the people I left behind in my country.” She kept the phone's SIM card close at hand throughout her journey, even hiding it in the seams of her shirt during her detention in Libya. MSF teams rescued Precious from an overcrowded rubber boat on her fourth attempt to cross the sea to Europe.

Returnees and refugees board a bus that will take them from the Joda border point to Renk transit center.
South Sudan 2024 © Kristen Poels/MSF

Refugees and returnees in South Sudan

Renk transit center, South Sudan


Refugees and returnees fleeing the war in Sudan board a bus at the Joda border crossing with South Sudan. From there, the bus will take them to the transit center in Renk, where living conditions are dire, with limited food, water, shelter, sanitation facilities, and medical care. Many of the 2 million people who have fled Sudan are returning to their roots in South Sudan, after having fled earlier cycles of violence and upheaval.

View of Bugeri site for displaced people in the Minova health zone, South Kivu province, in eastern DRC.
DR Congo 2024 © Hugh Cunningham

A new exodus

Bugeri camp, South Kivu, DR Congo


More than 7 million people are displaced across Democratic Republic of Congo—a record for the country. The vast majority of displaced people live in the eastern region, where fighting between the M23 armed group and the Congolese army and its allies intensified this year. Repeated mass waves of displacement have impacted health care. The facilities that remain open struggle to cope with large influxes of people fleeing the violence.

MSF staff respond by boat to floodings in Tenenkou
Mali 2024 © Mohamed Dayfour Diawara

Floods in Mali

Ténenkou, Mali


MSF staff cross the Niger River aboard a small motorboat, the only means of transportation following floods in August. In response, MSF mobilized its medical and logistical teams to carry out assessments of flood-affected areas and donated essential household items to almost 600 flood-affected families.

Mpox Cases Amidst Displacement Sites Near Goma

DR Congo 2024 © Michel Lunanga

Mpox emergency

Goma, DR Congo


MSF health promoter Aristote Saidi Wanyama holds an awareness session about mpox in Buhimba displacement camp on the outskirts of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. The area has been of particular concern during the mpox outbreak this year due to overcrowding in camps and high rates of sexual violence. In response, MSF has provided more than 9,600 awareness sessions reaching 1 million people, in addition to treating and testing for mpox.

A young woman prepares a meal at dusk, outside her home in Aboutengue refugee camp, Ouaddaï region, Chad
Chad 2024 © Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi

The search for shelter

Aboutengue camp, Chad


A young woman prepares a meal at dusk outside her shelter in Aboutengue refugee camp in Chad, where more than 44,000 Sudanese refugees live, the majority women and children. They are among more than 700,000 people who have fled Sudan to Chad since war broke out in April 2023. Most live in dusty desert camps without sufficient access to basic needs and services like food, shelter, and medical care.

Alexandra, an MSF physiotherapist, and assistant Anne assist Aboubakar, who is in physiotherapy and rehabilitation care after being wounded in the war in Sudan.

Chad 2024 © Corentin Fohlen/Divergence

Rehabilitation in Chad

Adré, Chad


MSF physiotherapist Alexandra and Anne, an assistant with the partner organization Humanity and Inclusion, assist Aboubakar during a physiotherapy session.

A young Syrian refugee releases a dove.
Lebanon 2024 © Carmen Yahchouchi/MSF

Release

Arsal, Lebanon


A refugee releases a pet dove her family keeps in their tent in Arsal, northeastern Lebanon. A survivor of child marriage who is now widowed and lost her own children in a fire, she has endured severe mental trauma. She is healing herself and others by promoting mental health support. More than 1.5 million Syrian refugees fled the war to Lebanon, where the health system is fragile and overburdened. Fear of deportation often prevents many from seeking medical care. MSF teams have been providing care—including pediatrics, sexual and reproductive health care, vaccinations, and mental health support—for over a decade in this region.

Women collecting water at the Adré transit camp distribution point, eastern Chad.

Chad 2024 © Juan Carlos Tomasi/MSF

Water in the desert camps of Chad

Adré transit camp, Chad


Women collect water at a distribution point in the refugee transit camp in Adré, Chad, where water is scarce. Chad has long grappled with water scarcity, but the strain on resources in places where refugees are sheltering has reached a critical level. In addition to distributing water, MSF water and sanitation teams have drilled boreholes and tapped into traditional methods of water collection to address the issue.

An MSF staff member in Gaza holds up a newborn baby at Nasser Hospital.
Palestine 2024 © Mariam Abu Dagga/MSF

Safe birth in Gaza

Khan Younis, Gaza


Hin So, an MSF midwife activity manager, holds a newborn baby at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza. The war has completely disrupted access to maternal health care in Gaza, exposing both mothers and their children to serious and even life-threatening health risks. With hospitals either nonfunctional or overwhelmed with
casualties, there are very few options for care during pregnancy and childbirth. Many women have had to give birth in tents or public spaces, such as bathrooms.

On February 5 2024, 134 people have been rescued by our team from of an overcrowded double deck wooden boat, following a distress alert from @alarm_phone.
Mediterranean Sea 2024 © Mohamad Cheblak/MSF

Rescue on the horizon

Mediterranean Sea


Passengers on an overcrowded wooden boat rejoice as MSF’s search and rescue vessel, Geo Barents, approaches in response to a distress alert sent via an emergency hotline. During this rescue, MSF teams pull more than 100 people to safety, including two children under three years old.

Michael Karongo with his wife Mary Wairimu—his greatest supporter in his recovery journey—and their children in Kenya.
Kenya 2024 © Eugene Osidiana/MSF

The journey to recovery

Kiambu, Kenya


After embarking on his journey of recovery from drug addiction five years ago, Michael Karongo has rejoined his community and now owns a business and goes to school. He received holistic care through MSF’s medically assisted therapy program for people with addiction in Kiambu, Kenya. Despite high rates of drug use, particularly heroin, in this area, for years there was no existing medical facility to provide this care.

Sudanese refugees in Adre, February 2024
Chad 2024 © Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi

Maternal care for new arrivals

Adré, Chad


A midwife holds the hands of a pregnant Sudanese woman during a prenatal consultation at a refugee camp in Adré.

On 8 June 2024, after instructions from the Italian authorities, the 11 bodies which were recovered from the Mediterranean Sea the day before, were transferred by the Geo Barents team to an Italian Coast Guard vessel near Lampadusa.

MSF search and rescue teams recovered 11 bodies from the Mediterranean Sea on June 8, transferring them to the Italian Coast Guard.

Mediterranean Sea 2024 © Frederic Seguin/MSF

Left to drown

Mediterranean Sea


MSF search and rescue teams recovered 11 bodies from the Mediterranean Sea on June 8, transferring them to the Italian Coast Guard. European deterrence policies have made migrants’ journeys even more dangerous and have hampered humanitarian rescues. Boats carrying migrants frequently capsize, leaving thousands to drown each year. 

Karam, 17, nearly died after his family's house was leveled by an Israeli airstrike, in which he suffered severe burns to his face and body. He is receiving comprehensive reconstructive surgery and physiotherapy at the MSF hospital in Amman.
Jordan 2024 © Moises Saman

Medical evacuation from Gaza for specialized care

Amman, Jordan


Karam, 17, nearly died after his family's house was leveled by an Israeli airstrike, leaving him with severe burns to his face and body. He was able to medically evacuate Gaza and is now undergoing comprehensive reconstructive surgery and physiotherapy at an MSF hospital in Amman, Jordan. Thousands of sick and wounded Gazans require specialized care unavailable in Gaza, yet many remain trapped, blocked from evacuation. 

A Syrian refugee holds a baby in Lebanon.

Lebanon 2024 © Antoni Lallican/Hans Lucas

Twice displaced

Beirut, Lebanon


”We came to find safety in Lebanon, but it turns out we are even more vulnerable here,” says Abbas, a young father and Syrian refugee recently displaced from southern Beirut due to Israeli bombardments in September. His son, Amir, is sick and has been crying more often. ”I think he’s aware of this change of environment and the insecurity in which we live.”

A Sudanese refugee woman beside a pile of bricks in Chad.

Chad 2024 © Corentin Fohlen/Divergence

Forging new livelihoods

Adré, Chad


Fatima Defa Ibrahim, a Sudanese refugee, makes bricks for a living now that she lives in Chad. "At first, I couldn't find work in Adré and the food aid wasn't enough to feed us,” she explained. For every 1,000 bricks she makes, she is paid $5.

A Mozambican man holds both hands over his face.

Mozambique 2024 © Martim Gray Pereira/MSF

Living in fear in Cabo Delgado

Cabo Delgado, Mozambique


“At night I can’t sleep between being hungry and haunted,” said Amade*, a farmer who was forced to flee his village in Mozambique due to violence this year. For more than six years, people in Cabo Delgado have been repeatedly displaced and traumatized, leaving some with panic attacks, insomnia, anxiety, and isolation.

A migrant woman's hands folded on her lap

Mexico 2024 © MSF

17 days of captivity at the US-Mexico border

Mexico


Rosaura, who is from Venezuela, was kidnapped in Piedras Negras, Mexico and held for a week, during which she was sexually abused. Because she was not able to pay her kidnappers to be released, she missed her appointment with US immigration authorities. The experience has severely impacted her mental health. 

A child is vaccinated for measles in Ingende health zone, DRC.

DR Congo 2024 © MSF

Measles response in Equateur

Ingende, DRC


This year, MSF teams responded to a new measles outbreak in Equateur province, DRC, providing treatment and vaccinating over 60,000 children under 9 years old in the area.

Being a child in a refugee camp
Rayan, a Sudanese refugee in Chad sits with her homemade pottery.

Chad 2024 © Thibault Fendler/MSF

Improvising fun in a refugee camp

Adré transit camp, Chad


Mazim, 12 (left) wears his Barcelona jersey as he plays football with his younger brother using a ball he made using a sock filled with plastic bags. Rayan, 7, (right) who is from Ardamatta, made teacups out of mud to reenact her favorite game. “I play tea party with the other children,” she said. “I make everything with mud I find in the camp after the rain and let it dry in the sun.”

Mental health of children in Gaza

Palestine 2024 © Mariam Abu Dagga/MSF

Activities for children in Gaza

Gaza, Palestine


“It's through play that we get over the trauma, the pain, how to manage some emotions that are coming and are not easy to deal with,” said MSF psychologist Mahmoud ElBebesi. MSF provides mental health activities for children at its clinic in Al-Mawasi.

More from this issue of Alert

December 06 09:00 AM

Hunger behind the headlines

Malnutrition emergencies across many countries demand greater attention.

Read More
Children arrive with their mothers and are weighed as part of a process that checks for malnutrition inside the Médecins Sans Frontières, (MSF) clinic at a refugee transit camp on April 25, 2024 in Adre, Chad.

September 20 12:23 PM

The long road to recovery for Gaza’s war-wounded children

MSF is treating medical evacuees from Gaza in Egypt and Jordan, but thousands who require specialized care are still trapped in the Strip.

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An injured Palestinian boy undergoes treatment from MSF in Jordan.

September 19 11:49 AM

48 hours at the US-Mexico border

Dr. Belen Ramirez, an MSF project coordinator in Arizona, takes us along as she assists local volunteers providing aid

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Project Coordinator Belen Ramirez and a 17-year-old boy form Bangladesh look at a helicopter flying overhead at the End of the Wall camp in Arizona.
An MSF staff member accompanies an elderly patient to a clinic in Chad.

Alert Winter 2024: The year in photos

Stories of 2024

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