Everyday Emergency

By Doctors Without Borders

What's Everyday Emergency about?

Find us on iTunes: http://msf.me/25aBFeU

Welcome to Everyday Emergency, bringing you true stories from people on the frontline of humanitarian emergencies across the world. Everyday Emergency is the official Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) podcast.

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Everyday Emergency episodes:

06.09.2023
Episode 9: Speaking out in a time of kidnapping
In August 2002, the threat to MSF becomes a reality and another Coordinator, a Dutch national, is kidnapped in Dagestan. The organisation is once again faced with the dilemma whether it should speak out in the media about the kidnapping...
06.09.2023
Episode 8: A Deliberate Strategy of Non-Assistance
The situation in the North Caucasus is getting more and more violent as the Russian federal authorities is trying to forcibly repatriate Chechen refugees and force humanitarian organisations out of Ingushetia. When colleagues at other organisations are kidnapped in Chechnya,...
06.09.2023
Episode 7: Anti-terrorist rhetoric
MSF’s operations have been closed down in Chechnya in response to the MSF Coordinator’s kidnapping. After his release, three weeks later, MSF tries to restart its operations in Chechnya but there are delays due to security issues, and for...
06.09.2023
Episode 6: 'Kidnapped by mistake'
Kidnappings are becoming more commonplace in Chechnya and closer to home for MSF as various staff members are held for questioning. Then, a key member of the team in the North Caucasus is taken hostage and questions are asked as...
06.09.2023
Episode 5: All on the same page
MSF’s operations in Chechnya are slowly starting back up again after 3 years of being run remotely. Although the bombing stops, general insecurity is pervasive and restarting these programmes is not without risks. With an international team back on the ground...
06.09.2023
Episode 4: A cautious re-entry to Chechnya
Throughout the year 2000, MSF seizes every opportunity to raise the alarm on the Chechen’s fate with governments and institutions around the world, but to little concrete effect other than general condemnation. With still no international staff in the country,...
06.09.2023
Episode 3: Advocacy without access
With hostilities in Chechnya flaring up again in what the Russian Federation terms as “anti-terrorist operations”, MSF leaders decide to use the ceremony of the reception of Nobel Peace Prize to call on the international community to intervene. But MSF...
06.09.2023
Episode 2: A Far Cry from Peace
While the Russian Federation President, Boris Yeltsin talks publicly about a peace plan, his forces carry out a ruthless bombing campaign on rebel-held villages in southern Chechnya. MSF sections are united in wanting to speak out about what their staff...
06.09.2023
Episode 1: The First War in Chechnya
The first war of independence of Chechnya with the Russian Federation starts in 1994 and runs for two years. In 1999, while the country and its people are still struggling to recover, the Russian authorities start bombing Chechnya again. Through...
01.10.2023
Syria: "Between Two Fires" - Danger and Desperation in Al-Hol
Warning: This episode contains testimony related to child deaths that some listeners may find distressing. A new report by MSF lays bare the cruelty of the long-term detainment of more than 50,000 people, the majority of whom are children, in Al-Hol,...
11.25.2022
Episode 6: Silent vs public advocacy
MSF's exploratory mission teams complete their reports on their Masisi and Shabunda visits. Details of mass graves, massacres, and the fact that the ADFL used humanitarian teams as bait to lure refugees out of the forests, sent shock waves through...
11.25.2022
Episode 8: Learning from retrospective reports
From mid-1997, MSF teams try to work together again. The organisation publishes retrospective studies that trace the odyssey of the Rwandan refugees through the Zairean jungle and contributes testimony to international investigations on human rights violations in the region.
11.25.2022
Episode 7: The ‘Forced Flight’ report
In May 1997, MSF published a new study describing the movements of refugees in the Great Lakes region of Africa and the fate of refugees. MSF planned to distribute the report to a small group of journalists, asking them not...
11.25.2022
Episode 5: Forest exodus
The ADFL takes control of all of the Kivu province and refugees continue to flee their rapid advance eastwards through the forest. MSF struggles to maintain access to the refugees amidst the violence, restrictions, and threats to team safety,...
11.25.2022
Episode 4: Humanitarians used as bait
Finally allowed into South Kivu, a province in eastern Zaire, the MSF teams discover that refugees are being massacred by the ADFL and its allies, particularly in the Massisi and the Shabunda regions. MSF realises that MSF teams are used...
11.25.2022
Episode 3: Under fire in the press
In November 1996, the offensive led by the ADFL and Rwandan forces empties the camps in eastern Zaire of their population. Some refugees were repatriated to Rwanda and others fled into the neighboring forest. MSF denounces the repatriation conditions and...
11.25.2022
Episode 2: Information war over refugee numbers
As the instability of the region increases, MSF and other humanitarian organisations are eventually forced out of eastern Zaire entirely. MSF suspects that thousands of refugees are suffering and at risk of dying. The organisation decides to launch an...
11.25.2022
Episode 1: Resumption of war in eastern Zaire
In 1996, MSF attempts to alert the international community about the resurgence of conflict in eastern Zaire, as witnessed by teams on the ground. The perpetrators of the Rwandan Tutsi genocide, living in refugee camps, threaten and attack the Zairean...
03.12.2022
MSF staff member sends a voice message from Mariupol
The situation for residents in Mariupol is increasingly desperate. On 12 March 2022, a member of Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) sent this update from the city under siege.
12.08.2021
Climate Crisis = Health Crisis: A COP26 debrief with MSF
In this episode of Everyday Emergency, we'll listen in on a discussion about COP26, why MSF was a part of it, and what the MSF delegates attending the summit learned from their participation. The discussion is hosted by Dr Christos...
08.24.2021
South Sudan: Voices from Bentiu
On 9 July 2021, the Republic of South Sudan marked its 10th birthday. This significant milestone is also marred by the bloody legacy of its first decade, including a five-year civil war. At independence, South Sudan was grappling with at...
04.28.2021
Diabetes: An unseen humanitarian emergency
It’s 100 years since the discovery of insulin, the life-saving drug for people living with diabetes. But today, more than half of those who need this marvellous medicine still can’t access it – either because it’s too expensive or unavailable. This...
01.28.2021
Speaking Out: Srebrenica - Mechanisms and expectations
Episode 5: Mechanisms and expectations Duration: 48 mins Justice is slow to come and still many of the nations involved are not taking responsibility for their country’s actions in the enclave. After a year of targeting the Dutch, the focus moves to...
01.28.2021
Speaking Out: Srebrenica - Peace agreement vs justice
Episode 4: Peace agreement vs justice Duration: 37 mins Following the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, 40,000 people are scattered around eastern Bosnia. Thousands are in a refugee camp around Tuzla airport, but thousands are also still missing, or dead including...
01.28.2021
Speaking Out: Srebrenica - The fall of Srebrenica
Episode 3: The fall of Srebrenica Duration: 40 mins July 1995 - the fall of Srebrenica is one of the toughest chapters of the Bosnian war. It only took 10 days for the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica to fall. The two...
01.28.2021
Speaking Out: Srebrenica - Prison doctors
Episode 2: Prison doctors Duration: 37 mins MSF has been working in the enclave for over 2 years now and has repeatedly informed the media about the difficulties it’s been having trying to get supplies, medicine, and even volunteers inside facing the...
01.28.2021
Speaking Out: Srebrenica - Entering the enclave
Episode 1: Entering the enclave Duration: 27 mins The Muslim population trapped inside Srebrenica is living under constant shelling since the start of the war in Bosnia in 1992. Even after the UN declared the city a ‘safe area’ in March 1993,...
07.07.2020
COVID-19: Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Midst of a Pandemic
Our producer Jess Brown looks into the potentially catastrophic secondary impacts of COVID-19 on the lives and health of women and girls. Sexual and reproductive health services are difficult to access in normal times and the secondary impacts of COVID-19 have...
04.02.2020
INSIDE YEMEN: Prologue
In this episode of “Inside Yemen”, Agnes and Natalie take you to Mocha on the banks of the Red Sea – a strategic crossroads just two hours from the front line where landmines are wreaking havoc among the civilian population. A...
04.02.2020
INSIDE YEMEN #1: The noise of bombs
In episode 1 of “Inside Yemen”, you are plunged straight into the heart of Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. Natalie tells you about her journey to Saada in the mountains in the north of the country. This is Houthi territory - the...
04.02.2020
INSIDE YEMEN #2: Under the sand, landmines
Bernard knows Yemen well, especially his operating theatre. Let’s go to the emergency department of an MSF hospital trapped between the frontlines south of Hodeidah and surrounded by mine fields.
04.02.2020
INSIDE YEMEN #3: Too far, too late
It is Ghassan’s turn to take you deep into Yemen to discover the cholera epidemic that broke out across the country in 2016 and 2017, amidst controversy and media manipulation.
04.02.2020
INSIDE YEMEN #4: Everyday violence
A grenade ready to explode, armed militia in a pick-up, Kalashnikovs everywhere. Ghassan and Thierry tell you about the everyday violence in Aden, the southern port where all semblance of normality has been lost.
04.02.2020
INSIDE YEMEN: Epilogue
Is Yemen’s a hopeless war? And what should be done when we can “only” care for people we know nothing about? In this last episode of “Inside Yemen”, Natalie takes you back to the north of the country, into the...
01.31.2020
Environmental Emergencies: Climate Crises and Humanitarian Response
In this episode of Everyday Emergency, Nick Owen hears from MSF staff who have been working with some of the populations most vulnerable to changing weather patterns and environmental degredation. Our guests detail the steps MSF is taking to better prepare...
12.31.2019
2010 - 2019: Reflections
In this episode of Everyday Emergency, host Nick Owen takes you through some of the most pivotal MSF moments from the past decade, with firsthand accounts from our staff on the ground. You'll hear about our response to the sheer...
11.30.2019
Colombia: Venezuelan Women's Struggle for Healthcare
In this episode of Everyday Emergency we hear about the lived experience of Venezuelan women bearing the brunt of their country's healthcare crisis and the difficulties they continue to face in Colombia. An estimated four million Venezuelans have left their country...
05.23.2019
Yemen: "A Devastating, Unjust Violence"
Yemen is in the grip of war. It is also one of the poorest countries in the world. British anaesthetist Dr Elma Wong has recently returned from her fourth assignment working in the country with MSF. In this episode...
12.06.2018
The Refugees Who Fled a Massacre
In this episode of Everyday Emergency, we take a look at one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times. The Rohingya are a group of people who have lived for centuries in Myanmar. Due to their ethnicity, they...
04.18.2018
Patching Blast Injuries in the Ruins of Raqqa
In this episode of Everyday Emergency, we hear from three MSF medics who have been working in the Syrian city of Raqqa. A former stronghold of the so-called Islamic State, Raqqa is littered with improvised explosive devices and remnants of...
07.14.2017
S2 E8: The Hidden Costs of War
Nina Rajani, a doctor from London, has just returned from Iraq. On this week's episode, Nina explains what it took to treat people caught between the vicious spiral of violent conflict and poor health. "Everyday Emergency" is a podcast from MSF....
06.23.2017
S2 E7: From Conflict Zones to Curtain Shops
In the latest episode of our Everyday Emergency podcast, we speak to Emily Gilbert. An MSF project coordinator from London, Emily has spent her entire career working in conflict zones. Whether she’s in the Middle East or Central Africa, Emily’s main...
06.01.2017
S2 E6: How We Rescued 560 People on the Mediterranean
"You’ve got to be in a really, really awful situation to think ‘yes, I’m going to put my nine-month old child onto this rubber boat, because that’s the best option to me at the moment’." Last month, our host spent time...
05.18.2017
S2 E5: A Return to the Disaster in Idomeni
Our regular host, Nick Owen, is somewhere in the middle of the Mediterranean sea this week. He's on board the Aquarius doing search and rescue with Dr Connor Kenny. The pair are going to be capturing a live rescue for...
05.04.2017
S2 E4: I Searched 70 Refugee Camps to Find My Mother
On this week's episode of our Everyday Emergency podcast, we meet Besh, a Kurdish asylum seeker living in London, UK. Besh and his family lived peacefully in a village just outside Mosul, raising livestock on their farm. In June 2014,...
04.20.2017
S2 E3: "The Letter That Changed Me"
"I wasn't prepared. It left a scar. It was the first time I was exposed to so much avoidable death." On this week's episode of our Everyday Emergency podcast, we meet Javid Abdelmoneim, an emergency doctor living in London, UK. Five...
04.06.2017
S2 E2: "Good luck, my sister"
* Please be advised that this episode deals with sensitive issues relating to sexual violence and may be unsuitable for some listeners. In our latest episode of Everday Emergency, we meet Courtney Bercan - an MSF nurse who worked on...
03.24.2017
S2 E1: "My Fight Isn't Over" | World TB Day 2017
Elizabeth Wangeci's story is a remarkable one. Against the odds, Elizabeth, from Nairobi, was the first person to survive one of the deadliest forms of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Kenya. In the first episode of the second series of Everyday Emergency,...
10.03.2016
The Kunduz Hospital Attack: A Doctor's Story
The 3rd of October will be remembered as one of the darkest days in MSF's history. On this day in 2015, US airstrikes killed 42 people and destroyed the MSF trauma hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. In this special episode of...
08.19.2016
S1 E10: The Disaster in Idomeni
In our tenth and final edition of this series, we follow on from where our Mediterranean search and rescue episode left off. We speak to Conor Kenny, a doctor who has been caring for refugees in Greece. Conor also talks...

What's Everyday Emergency about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Everyday Emergency episodes:

Episode 9: Speaking out in a time of kidnapping

Episode 8: A Deliberate Strategy of Non-Assistance

Episode 7: Anti-terrorist rhetoric

Episode 6: 'Kidnapped by mistake'

Episode 5: All on the same page

Episode 4: A cautious re-entry to Chechnya

Episode 3: Advocacy without access

Episode 2: A Far Cry from Peace

Episode 1: The First War in Chechnya

Syria: "Between Two Fires" - Danger and Desperation in Al-Hol

Episode 6: Silent vs public advocacy

Episode 8: Learning from retrospective reports

Episode 7: The ‘Forced Flight’ report

Episode 5: Forest exodus

Episode 4: Humanitarians used as bait

Episode 3: Under fire in the press

Episode 2: Information war over refugee numbers

Episode 1: Resumption of war in eastern Zaire

MSF staff member sends a voice message from Mariupol

Climate Crisis = Health Crisis: A COP26 debrief with MSF

South Sudan: Voices from Bentiu

Diabetes: An unseen humanitarian emergency

Speaking Out: Srebrenica - Mechanisms and expectations

Speaking Out: Srebrenica - Peace agreement vs justice

Speaking Out: Srebrenica - The fall of Srebrenica

Speaking Out: Srebrenica - Prison doctors

Speaking Out: Srebrenica - Entering the enclave

COVID-19: Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Midst of a Pandemic

INSIDE YEMEN: Prologue

INSIDE YEMEN #1: The noise of bombs

INSIDE YEMEN #2: Under the sand, landmines

INSIDE YEMEN #3: Too far, too late

INSIDE YEMEN #4: Everyday violence

INSIDE YEMEN: Epilogue

Environmental Emergencies: Climate Crises and Humanitarian Response

2010 - 2019: Reflections

Colombia: Venezuelan Women's Struggle for Healthcare

Yemen: "A Devastating, Unjust Violence"

The Refugees Who Fled a Massacre

Patching Blast Injuries in the Ruins of Raqqa

S2 E8: The Hidden Costs of War

S2 E7: From Conflict Zones to Curtain Shops

S2 E6: How We Rescued 560 People on the Mediterranean

S2 E5: A Return to the Disaster in Idomeni

S2 E4: I Searched 70 Refugee Camps to Find My Mother

S2 E3: "The Letter That Changed Me"

S2 E2: "Good luck, my sister"

S2 E1: "My Fight Isn't Over" | World TB Day 2017

The Kunduz Hospital Attack: A Doctor's Story

S1 E10: The Disaster in Idomeni

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