After eight years of work supporting the rehabilitation of the health care system in Mosul, Iraq, MSF is concluding its project in Al-Ubor Neighbourhood.
In October 2025, Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) handed over operation of the Al-Ubor Health Center in Mosul, Iraq, to Iraqi Red Crescent Society. This handover marks the amazing growth of health care sector and a successful transition from emergency response to sustainable, locally led health care.
When Mosul, emerged from years of intense conflict in 2017, its health system was on the verge of collapse. At the time, most hospitals were damaged or destroyed, medical staff who were also insufficient in numbers were exhausted or displaced, and basic equipment were scarce. It was in this fragile landscape that MSF began its work—initially to cover urgent gaps, and later to help rebuild the foundations of care. MSF’s role is to stabilize emergency services, then support local teams in regaining the skills and confidence needed to run them independently.
A race against time to repair the health system
Since 2017, MSF’s medical activities in Mosul moved from acute emergency response to strengthening a more resilient health system. Teams set up field hospitals, provided life-saving surgeries and intensive care, and later expanded into specialised services such as post-operative care, complex wound management, safe maternity care, infection prevention and control (IPC), and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) stewardship.
Beyond direct medical care, MSF supported staff training, improved patient pathways, and helped establish evidence-based protocols inside public hospitals. By the time several projects were handed over to the Ministry of Health, essential knowledge and practices had already become part of daily work for local teams.
As the city transitioned from crisis to relative stability, MSF’s priority shifted as well—from managing critical cases to developing sustainable, locally led capacity.
“The goal was not only to treat patients, but to introduce a way of working that would remain long after us,” said Jackie Murekezi, MSF’s Project Medical coordinator in Mosul.
A Lasting Impact on Staff
His role evolved from a narrow clinical focus to a broader one that included surgery, wound care, rational antibiotic use as the focal point for AMS (antibiotic Stewardship), infection control, and even psychosocial support. With supervision and daily practice, he later became a trainer himself and contributed to national efforts on antimicrobial resistance.
In 2018, Fatima Salem Younis joined MSF as a young nursing student. Through hands-on learning and support from MSF teams, Fatima grew into a confident infection prevention and control (IPC) supervisor. Fatima later led IPC trainings in three major hospitals. “I learned to assess wounds properly, debride safely, and use advanced techniques while respecting each patient,” says Ali Abdullah Ahmed, who joined MSF in 2017, and developed strong skills in managing complex wounds across ICU, emergency, and recovery units.
By 2018 he was supervising nursing teams and later became a local reference in wound care, eventually opening his own clinic based on the practices he learned with MSF.
A City Healing Itself
MSF’s legacy in Mosul can be seen in the details of daily care—in how a dressing is changed, how a surgical step is followed.
“The deepest impact was human before it was medical,” says Jackie Murekezi. “We created safe spaces for people who needed them most.”
She notes that the work also helped reduce stigma around mental health and family planning, creating new access for women, adolescents, and families.
As signs of recovery grow across public hospitals, MSF has closed another chapter in its Mosul operations with the handover of the Al-Ubor (Transit) Clinic. Yet MSF remains active in the governorate, supporting Nablus Field Hospital and running other medical projects across Iraq.
From a city devastated by war to a system gradually regaining strength, MSF’s work in Mosul helped bridge critical gaps and build a capacity that can stand on its own.
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Related:
- MSF in Iraq
