Issue #4
Fourth Time's the Charm.
Already a bit more than a month into 2025 🎉 and it still hasn’t sunk in fully… or is it just me? Hope everyone’s new years resolutions are going strong 💪 - we at FoMSF (UoN) are continuing our pledged efforts from the start of the academic year in delivering more fundraising events than ever before for you guys! BIG STUFF ahead this semester 👀 so keep reading these issues and following our Instagram for updates! As always, links to socials at the bottom of the issue.
And about last month’s promised issue (even though nobody asked): many of us were on holiday/placement and I set out on a side quest to convert this newsletter into a nationwide issue. And after some conversation, I’m pleased to announce that I, Nishant (that’s his name?) will be a contributing author to the official FoMSF newsletter from next month! Don’t worry, I’ll still be writing these issues 👨💻.
Also to anyone who subscribed recently (first of all, thanks!), don’t forget to check out the ‘About’ section on our Substack :)
P.S. Happy Year of the (Wood) Snake 🐍, to anyone who celebrates :P
P.P.S. If you’re not afraid of snakes and love them like I do, search up Tropidophis melanurus. Yep, the wood snake is real.
Welcome, newborns of 2025, to the first issue of the year!
Monthly Recap
Bake Sale - Wednesday 22nd January
A huge success just like our bake sales in the past - we raised £183 thanks to everyone who donated 👏. Here are some photos from the day, it was at Portland Building. And of course, as always, all donations proceed to MSF.
MSF Now
News Spotlight #1 - Armed Conflict in DRC
Did you know that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the second-largest country in Africa by area? And it’s torn apart by conflict. Spanning from North to South Kivu, the main DRC provinces, the conflict is appropriately known as the “Kivu Conflict”. It is an ongoing conflict between armed rebel group “M23/AFC” and the Congolese army of over 3 decades, ever since the fallout of the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda. So, what does the current situation look like?
Artillery explosions, war-torn camps and mass displacement is seen regularly in Goma, the capital city of the North Kivu province. Health facilities and hospitals are not immune from the crossfire.
According to the UN: 400,000 people have fled since January 2025 (last month).
MSF’s current response struggles to prevail; for health facilities to continue to function, more labour and teams are needed - now more than ever. For example, in Goma, the limited supply of healthcare workers combined with overwhelmed hospitals presents a seemingly unsurmountable challenge for MSF and humanitarian medics. This is where you can help. Every donation is of paramount importance as you’ll find in the next spotlight, MSF take “every second counts” seriously. But there are infinitely more ways to donate than just the click of a button - come to our bake sales and upcoming events!
Read the full story 👉 here 👈
News Spotlight #2 - Behind the Scenes - How a Humanitarian Supply Warehouse Functions
And now for a heavily underrepresented aspect of humanitarian aid - supply. MSF functions thanks to a close-knit team; organising and delivering medical care around the world to deprived areas is just the tip of the iceberg.
From a 16,500 sqm warehouse in Belgium, MSF effectively prepares 30 tonnes of medical supplies and equipment ready for travel and loaded on a full plane in 24 hours.
Some serious light should be shed on the warehouse team. As without them, most forms of medical aid and trauma care would just be impossible. The team is made of 35 people working in different zones and departments. 35 people. That’s a bit more than the average people enrolled in a year 3 optional module. The team ensures the preparation and packaging of modular kits - different kits have to be designed for different crises. “You will not send the same kit to a war zone compared to a cholera outbreak” ~ Frans Brasseur, MSF logistics supply specialist.
They keep medicines and vaccines cold, ensure that dangerous products (risky chemicals in bulk quantities) are packed in special boxes and design the kits with spatial awareness… all while keeping costs down. They do this by prioritising maximum speed and efficiency for emergency orders, leaving the regular orders with around 8-9 weeks for a full delivery period.
Remember when I said every second counts? See for yourself:
After writing this, I’ve just realised this is easily one of my favourite underrepresented aspects of global healthcare - it’s on my top 5 news spotlights!
Read the full story 👉 here 👈
News Spotlight #3 - Against All Odds: An Anecdotal Snippet
Dr Ryan McHenry kept a diary during his 3 months working in Lankien, South Sudan. Here is a brief recount from his arduous experience.
“Just do what you can” says Dr Ryan, recalling an event where one’s lengthy and specialised expertise was seemingly inconsequential in light of a dying patient. “You go as a doctor” - nothing more, nothing less. Well, with less resources, time and space of course. Dr Ryan himself suffered from diarrhoea, vomiting and a fever during his time in South Sudan, elucidating that the environment does not show any mercy to the visiting doctors. We live in the UK, where polio has been eradicated for decades now. In South Sudan, there was an outbreak just a few months ago.
Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that invades the central nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours.
“I have the easy job, I only need to resuscitate the child, if it ever arrives.” - this quote from Dr Ryan attempts to illustrate a hard-to-imagine harsh reality that takes place on our very Earth. Every time I read something like this I just stop and think about how grateful we should all be for our lives. Most of us can live our lives without knowing what it’s like to witness dying children, rampant gunfire and life-threatening infectious disease.
Wait, tell me about Lankien, the place he wrote from! Ok: The population of Lankien is approximately 19,000 people (that’s about the population of Lenton, Nottingham, to give you an idea). An MSF hospital has been operating in Lankien for over 30 years, serving Lankien and nearby communities. (I wrote this, not ChatGPT 🙄)
And with that, I’m going to end this spotlight in appreciation for the original article. Dr Ryan met a french woman in Istanbul airport, who thanked him for his service. She had said, “the problem isn’t that people don’t have enough to eat, not now, in the 21st Century”.
Dr Ryan responds: “It is.”
Read the full story 👉 here 👈
[BONUS CLIP]- Noma: A Neglected Tropical Disease…Soon to be in the Past!
Story of the Month
Gaza Ceasefire - Is It Really Over?
This made world news and is part of a highly complicated and sensitive topic - so I’m going to just provide a brief overview of current status of the Israel-Palestine conflict (FACT: this very conflict is thought to have started in 1948). The 2025 Israel-Gaza war ceasefire came into effect on the 19th January, after agreement on the 15th January.
MSF says, “the temporary ceasefire agreement in Gaza is a relief, but it arrives more than 465 days and 46,000 lives too late”.
This speaks volumes on the toll and impact of the conflict, clearly indicating that such a ceasefire agreement should have been instated well in the past. Since the agreement came into effect, Israel must immediately end its blockade of Gaza and ensure the mass flow of previously obstructed humanitarian aid into and across the Strip, where hundreds of thousands of people are in desperate conditions and in dire need of medical care.
The Israel-Gaza War ended after 15 months of violence, causing suffering to the millions of people in the Gaza Strip, the hostages seized on 7 October 2023 and thousands of critically injured patients in overwhelmed hospitals.
We can only hope that the ceasefire agreement is respected and maintained by Israel, Hamas and other groups/organisations in control of Gaza.
Here is MSF’s timeline data of the Israel-Gaza War if you wish to learn more about specific details of the war and conflict.
Read the full story 👉 here 👈
Upcoming Events
Blind Aces - Gig Fundraiser [NEW]
We are hosting a gig at Canalhouse, with a local soul/pop/rock band! 🎶 🎸 It’ll be a night of dancing, singing and a lot of fun at a gorgeous venue!!🕺🏼💃🏽 Bring your friends!!
Get tickets HERE! All the money of course to MSF (Doctors Without Borders)🏥 Hope to see you guys there!
Date → 21st February, Entry from 19:30
Venue → Canalhouse (48-52 Canal St)
P.S. free raffle entry with your ticket- chance to win £20 of free drinks on the night and other prizes 🎟️🥂
Speaker Event - TBC [INSTAGRAM]
Date → TBC
Venue → TBC
Non-UoN FoMSF Events - Wanna Get Even More Involved?
Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge
It’s in the name - members are to cover 3 peaks over 600m in the centre of Northern England for MSF fundraising sometime from April-June (exact days TBD).
Deadline to sign-up was unfortunately 31st January but to those who did manage to sign-up, I’m excited to join you for the challenge! (let me know if you did DofE Gold ‘cause 24 miles a day is light work for us right?) If only I had published this a bit more than a week ago…
MSF Scientific Days Conference
I attended this last year with some others from the committee and the amount of work that was showcased by not only MSF but in the field of humanitarian medicine was nothing short of awe-inspiring 🤩.
As FoMSF themselves put it, “the event brings together researchers, innovators, and advocates in humanitarian global health to discuss and challenge research from within the sector” ⛑️.
If this sounds like something you’re interested in, definitely sign up for updates HERE. Oh yeah, and it’s completely FREE. Hope to see you guys there!
Date → Thursday, 22nd May, All-Day
Venue → London (exact location TBD) + online
Socials
Remember, “independence, neutrality and impartiality” ~ Nishant and Yasir
See you in the next one! 🩺