MSF: Worsening conflict leaves tens of thousands without essential care in Colombia
In 2025, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has launched interventions in Catatumbo and Arauca, areas affected by ongoing fighting between armed groups. There is an urgent need to increase humanitarian aid in isolated and hard-to-reach communities.
Bogotá, April 1, 2025 - Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has in recent weeks increased our medical humanitarian assistance in areas hit by the most intense upsurge of conflict in years in Colombia. Tens of thousands of people are currently caught in at least 11 active pockets of violence, according to authorities1. Amid exacerbated humanitarian needs, we urge State entities and other humanitarian organizations to reach isolated communities where many people are lacking access to basic services including healthcare. As well, we urge armed actors to protect medical structures and humanitarian workers from violence.
“We are deeply concerned about the impact that the escalating conflict in Colombia is having on tens of thousands of people in several regions of the country,” says Francisco Otero, MSF general coordinator in Colombia. “Our teams are providing essential medical and humanitarian assistance to isolated and vulnerable communities in areas that are very difficult to access for humanitarian organizations and with little presence of the State.”
In February, MSF teams launched an emergency response in rural areas of the northeastern region of Catatumbo, where in January more than 50,000 people were forced from their homes by hostilities in the largest sudden population displacement in decades. Many of those who remained now have movement restrictions imposed on them. In March, we started a project in the department of Arauca, also bordering Venezuela.
Emergency in Catatumbo
In mid-January, the breakdown of a non-aggression pact between two non-state armed groups triggered an escalation of violence that has left at least 98 dead and some 77,000 people affected, including displaced and confined persons, according to State authorities2. The Colombian armed forces have also launched several offensives against these groups.
MSF teams are carrying out mobile clinics in rural areas where there are restrictions on movement, both for people to leave in search of resources and services, and for official entities and other humanitarian organizations to enter. MSF is one of the few organizations granted access by the parties to the conflict to areas widely affected by these restrictions.
Between February 10 and March 15, we provided nearly 1,200 medical consultations in rural areas of Ábrego, Teorama, and Tibú, including 933 for primary health care and 112 for mental health. Additionally, 472 people benefited from group mental health activities.
“We see a deterioration in the health of the population, from children with symptoms of malnutrition to patients with chronic conditions, such as hypertension or diabetes, whose treatment has been interrupted,” explains Dr. Altair Saavedra, MSF's medical coordinator in Colombia.
“Most of the pregnant women we saw in consultations had not started prenatal check-ups, regardless of their gestational age, and some patients have shown severe psychological symptoms caused by uncertainty about the development of the conflict.” In addition, in the areas visited by MSF at least four primary health care centers have closed or suspended activities due to the violence.
New project in Arauca
In the region of Arauca, several non-state armed groups are fighting for the control of the territory. MSF began a long-term project the first week of March that will focus on people who face severe constraints to access healthcare: Venezuelan migrants, Colombian returnees and displaced people, as well as vulnerable Indigenous groups in the urban area; and communities affected by the armed conflict in rural areas.
“We will offer services for sexual and reproductive health, comprehensive care for survivors of sexual violence, mental health consultations, priority attention to children under five years of age, support for first level structures and strengthen the technical capacity of health personnel. We will also carry out water and sanitation activities,” says Alejandro Matos, MSF coordinator in Arauca.
Between March 3 and 14, we provided 281 medical consultations, 30 individual mental health consultations, and 116 people participated in group mental health sessions, in the settlements of Jerusalem, Brisas del Puente, and Clarinetero, in the town of Arauca, the region’s capital.
The worsening conflict in Colombia
Seven decades of conflict have made Colombia one of the countries with the highest number of internally displaced people (IDP) in the world, with nearly nine million according to the historical record3. During the last decade, the figure of 70,000 new IDPs by violence was never crossed in a year, but in 2024 the country registered 160,000, according to the authorities4. This is the highest annual figure since the signing in 2016 of the peace agreement between the State and the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Despite an ongoing negotiation process between the government and several non-state armed groups, the Colombian ombudsman's office has indicated there are 11 humanitarian emergency hotspots, especially in regions along the Pacific and the Venezuelan border.
“As an organisation that guides our action under the principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence, we call on the parties to the conflict to provide safe access to areas hit by violence where there are unmet humanitarian needs,” says Otero.
Colombia has also been the largest recipient of USAID funds in Latin America. In 2024, the United States provided nearly 68% of the resources for the humanitarian response managed by aid workers in the country, but in 2025 dozens of NGOs and United Nations (UN) agencies have already been impacted by cuts. In the health sector alone, more than 183,000 people lost access to assistance, and 683,000 others are at risk of being affected, according to the humanitarian health organizations team5.
"Amid the exacerbation of needs due to the worsening conflict, we urge State entities and other humanitarian organizations to reach out to communities where access to basic services such as health care has been impacted, and we urge the parties to the conflict to protect medical facilities and humanitarian workers from violence," Otero says.
ENDS
2 https://x.com/gobernorte/status/1905003803402785210?s=46
3 This is the total number of people displaced due to violence, who were eligible for assistance by the authorities. The vast majority continue out of their homes: https://www.unidadvictimas.gov.co/registro-unico-de-victimas-ruv/
4 Registro Único de Víctimas en Colombia https://vgv.unidadvictimas.gov.co/
5 https://reliefweb.int/report/colombia/impacto-reduccion-de-fondos-humanitarios-en-colombia