Posttraumatic Osteomyelitis in Mosul and Gaza: A Retrospective Cohort Study, 2018-2022.

Background: The history of conflicts in the Middle East has resulted in a high burden of complications from conflict-related wounds like posttraumatic osteomyelitis (PTO). This is particularly challenging to manage in settings like Mosul, Iraq and Gaza, Palestine, where healthcare systems are weakened. In nonconflict settings, PTO caused by (PAPTO) can lead to >20% of treatment failures.

Usability and acceptability of self-testing for hepatitis C virus exposure in a high-prevalence urban informal settlement in Karachi, Pakistan.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody self-testing (HCVST) may help expand screening access and support HCV elimination efforts. Despite potential benefits, HCVST is not currently implemented in Pakistan. This study aimed to assess the usability and acceptability of HCVST in a high HCV prevalence informal settlement in Karachi, Pakistan.

Extensively Antibiotic-Resistant Bacterial Infections in Trauma Cases Managed at the Médecins Sans Frontières Tertiary Orthopaedic Center in Mosul, Iraq: A Case Series.

The Médecins Sans Frontières Tertiary Orthopaedic Care center in Mosul, Iraq, provides reconstructive surgery, microbiological analysis, integrated infection prevention and control, and antibiotic stewardship services. Between May 2018 and February 2020, we recorded soft tissue and/or bone infections caused by gram-negative extensively drug-resistant (XDR) bacteria in 4.9% (13/266) of the admitted patients.

Point-of-care diagnostics for sexually transmitted infections among migrants in Greece.

Setting: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) can impact individuals of any demographic. The most common pathogens causing STIs are , and ; these can be treated with specific antibiotics.

Objective: To compare the GeneXpert CT/NG test-and-treat algorithm to the syndromic approach algorithm and their impact on antibiotic prescription for gonorrhoea and chlamydia STIs.

Antibiotic susceptibility patterns at the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Acute Trauma Hospital in Aden, Yemen: a retrospective study from January 2018 to June 2021.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an urgent global health concern, especially in countries facing instability or conflicts, with compromised healthcare systems. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) established an acute trauma hospital in Aden, Yemen, treating mainly war-wounded civilians, and implemented an antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programme. This study aimed to describe clinical characteristics and identify antibiotic susceptibility patterns representative of patients treated with antibiotics.

Pain management in victims of disasters.

Pain is widely studied and is considered a major clinical, social, and economic problem worldwide, although it remains poorly understood. For disaster victims, the complex picture, biologically, psychologically, and socially, only makes the situation even more complicated. This narrative review aims to describe specific aspects of pain and pain management in disaster victims.

Involving older people in the preparedness, response, and recovery phases in humanitarian emergencies: a theoretical framework on ageism, epistemic injustice, and participation.

Humanitarian emergencies disproportionally affect older people. Although defining an older person by an age range can help alert us to emerging or changing needs and potential vulnerabilities during humanitarian emergencies, ageing is not necessarily synonymous with increasing vulnerability, and individual variations exist due to the heterogeneity of older people. In general, reduced access to safety, health services, clean water, and appropriate food puts older people at increased risk of poor health outcomes during humanitarian emergencies, including disability, injury, malnutrition, and mental health issues.

Field Epidemiology and Public Health Microbiology training: capturing the alumni perspectives of the training's impact.

We present the findings from the European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET) Alumni Network (EAN) Member Survey conducted in October to December 2021. The EAN consists of field epidemiologists (EPIET) and public health microbiologists (European Public Health Microbiology Training Programme (EUPHEM)) who stay connected after their 2-year fellowship. This active alumni network provides opportunities for career development, mentorship, knowledge exchange and sharing of best practices for community members, affiliated professionals and public health organisations in Europe.

How is the implementation of empirical research results documented in conflict-affected settings? Findings from a scoping review of peer-reviewed literature.

Implementation science scholars argue that knowing 'what works' in public health is insufficient to change practices, without understanding 'how', 'where' and 'why' something works. In the peer reviewed literature on conflict-affected settings, challenges to produce research, make decisions informed by evidence, or deliver services are documented, but what about the understanding of 'how', 'where' and 'why' changes occur? We explored these questions through a scoping review of peer-reviewed literature based on core dimensions of the Extended Normalization Process Theory. We selected papers that provided data on how something might work (who is involved and how?), where (in what organizational arrangements or contexts?) and why (what was done?).

Kwashiorkor skin lesions: case study on clinical presentation, management and patient caretaker perspectives in Maiduguri, north-eastern Nigeria.

The management of kwashiorkor disease (KD) in children is challenging in resource-limited settings, especially for those cases with severe skin lesions and its complications. There are no evidenced-based management protocols specific to KD. This article describes the clinical presentation and case management of two children with different presentations of complicated kwashiorkor skin lesions and explores kwashiorkor from the perspective of the children's caretakers in Maiduguri, Nigeria.

Characteristics of Medical Evacuation by Train in Ukraine, 2022.

Importance: The 2022 war in Ukraine severely affected access to health care for patients in the conflict-affected regions and limited options for medical evacuation. Air transport, a common method of medical evacuation in war zones, was unsafe due to the conflict of 2 modernized military forces that were in possession of aircraft and surface-to-air weapons; therefore, Médecins Sans Frontières, in collaboration with the Ukrainian railway company and Ukrainian health agencies, addressed this by initiating medical evacuation via medically customized trains.

Objective: To describe the implementation of medical evacuation trains aimed at improving the access to health care for war-affected patients.

Colistin resistance in and in humans and backyard animals in Ecuador.

Objective: Colistin is an antibiotic of last resort for treating serious Gram-negative bacterial infections. However, the misuse of colistin, especially as an animal growth promoter, has contributed to increasing antimicrobial resistance, mediated mainly through plasmid transfer of the gene. This study assessed the prevalence of phenotypic and molecular colistin resistance in in Ecuador in healthy humans and their chickens and pigs.

Provider-initiated HIV testing uptake and socio-economic status among women in a conflict zone in the Central African Republic: a mixed-methods cross-sectional study.

Introduction: In the Central African Republic (CAR), HIV/AIDS is the main cause of death in women aged 15-49 years. Increased testing coverage is essential in prevention of HIV/AIDS, especially in areas where conflict hinders access to health care. Socio-economic status (SES) has been shown to be associated with HIV testing uptake.

Catalyst for change: Lessons learned from overcoming barriers to providing safe abortion care in Médecins Sans Frontières projects.

Context: Despite instituting a policy in 2004, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) continuously struggled to routinely provide safe abortion care (SAC). In 2016, the organization launched an initiative aimed at increasing availability of SAC in MSF projects and increasing understanding of abortion-related dynamics in humanitarian settings.

Methodology: From March 2017 to April 2018, MSF staff conducted support visits to 10 projects in a country in sub-Saharan Africa.

Missed opportunities for vaccination (MOV) in children up to 5 years old in 19 Médecins Sans Frontières-supported health facilities: a cross-sectional survey in six low-resource countries.

Objective: To describe missed opportunities for vaccination (MOV) among children visiting Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)-supported facilities, their related factors, and to identify reasons for non-vaccination.

Design: Cross-sectional surveys conducted between 2011 and 2015.

Setting And Participants: Children up to 59 months of age visiting 19 MSF-supported facilities (15 primary healthcare centres and four hospitals) in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritania, Niger, Pakistan and South Sudan.