On this month's cover, a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF; known in English as Doctors Without Borders) mobile medical team embarks on a boat trip to visit communities in Brazil's largest state, Amazonas-a remote jungle region where residents, many of whom are indigenous, have limited access to health care. The two-week trip was part of MSF's broad COVID-19 response in Amazonas, which was launched in April as cases of the virus climbed. The organization's efforts in the region included supporting hospitals and training staff, establishing an isolation center and a COVID-19 care center, and participating in radio broadcasts to villages to address questions about the virus.
During their trip, the team aboard the "boat clinic" made several stops to provide basic medical care. They conducted medical assessments and delivered vaccinations and also offered advice about COVID-19. To reach some areas, they used smaller boats and went house to house.
In this month's Reflections column, "She Had a Door," Shannon McCrory-Churchill discusses the "joy and sorrow" of medical mission work-and why she continues to do it after 10 years. "This is hard work," she writes. "This can be thankless work if you let it, and sometimes, you let it."-Diane Szulecki, editor