Healthcare Australia co-sponsored the Australian tour of an extraordinary photographic exhibition – in association with Brisbane Powerhouse as Artistic Partner and the Air Road Foundation as Transport Partner.
Photographers from the renowned VII photo agency travelled to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with Médecins Sans Frontières, in order to document the suffering of the Congolese people.
Their plight is represented in ‘Democratic Republic of Congo: Forgotten War’ – photos by Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil, Joachim Ladefoged and James Natchwey that have been exhibited in New York, Paris, Denmark and Tokyo.
The 'Forgotten War'
Decades of war and the collapse of the public health system have resulted in widespread and acute misery for people throughout DRC. Despite the recent peace process, many Congolese still face extreme deprivation, brutal militia attacks, sexual violence, severe malnutrition, and epidemics of diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS and cholera.
“Today the world only seems to be able to focus on one or two events at a time. Over the past years, DRC has never been one of them,” says VII photographer Ron Haviv. “We hope that…all who see the work will want to help change an ever-worsening situation.
About Médecins Sans Frontières
Médecins Sans Frontières (www.msf.org.au) provides emergency medical assistance to populations living in the most extreme circumstances.
MSF is working in 70 countries around the world – including programs for:
- Victims of direct or indirect conflict in South Sudan and Darfur (West Sudan).
- Refugees and displaced people in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
- Malnutrition in Niger and Sudan
- War surgery in Haiti and DRC
- HIV/AIDS pandemic and Tuberculosis in Cambodia, China, Kenya, Thailand and South Sudan
- Malaria in Myanmar
- Measles in Nigeria and North Kenya
