fbpx
Wikipedia

Médecins Sans Frontières

March 20, 2023

Not to be confused with Médecins du Monde, which was formed in part by members of MSF, but is an entirely independent non-governmental organisation with no links to MSF today.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced [medsɛ̃ sɑ̃ fʁɔ̃tjɛʁ] (listen)), also known as Doctors Without Borders, is a charity that provides humanitarian medical care. It is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases.[1] The organisation provides care for: diabetes, drug-resistant infections, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, tropical and neglected diseases, tuberculosis, vaccines and COVID-19. In 2019, the charity was active in 70 countries with over 35,000 personnel; mostly local doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, logistical experts, water and sanitation engineers, and administrators.[1] Private donors provide about 90% of the organisation's funding, while corporate donations provide the rest, giving MSF an annual budget of approximately US$1.63 billion.[2]

Médecins Sans Frontières
Founded22 December 1971; 51 years ago (1971-12-22)
Founded atParis
TypeInternational NGO
FocusHumanitarian Aid
Headquarters
  • Global:
  • Operational Centres:
    • Amsterdam (OCA)
    • Barcelona-Athens (OCBA)
    • Brussels (OCB)
    • Paris (OCP)
    • Geneva (OCG)
Area served
Worldwide
International President
Christos Christou
Main organ
International General Assembly
Revenue (2020)
€1.9 billion
Employees
45,375
Websitewww.msf.org
Introduction of Médecins Sans Frontières

MSF was founded in 1971, in the aftermath of the Biafran famine of the Nigerian Civil War, by a small group of French doctors and journalists who sought to expand accessibility to medical care across national boundaries and irrespective of race, religion, creed or political affiliation.[3] MSF's principles and operational guidelines are highlighted in its Charter,[4] the Chantilly Principles, and the later La Mancha Agreement.[5] Governance is addressed in Section 2 of the Rules portion of this final document. MSF has an associative, rather chaotic structure, where operational decisions are made, independently, by the five operational centres (Amsterdam, Barcelona-Athens, Brussels, Geneva and Paris). Common policies on core issues are coordinated by the International Council, in which each of the 24 sections (national offices) is represented. The International Council meets in Geneva, Switzerland, where the International Office, which coordinates international activities common to the operational centres, is based.

MSF has general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It received the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its members' continued efforts to provide medical care in acute crises, as well as raising international awareness of potential humanitarian disasters.[6] James Orbinski, who was the president of the organisation at the time, accepted the prize on behalf of MSF. Prior to this, MSF also received the 1996 Seoul Peace Prize.[7] Christos Christou succeeded Joanne Liu as international president in June 2019.[8]

History

1967 to 1970 Biafra

 
A child with kwashiorkor during the Nigerian Civil War

During the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, the Nigerian military formed a blockade around the nation's newly independent south-eastern region, Biafra. At this time, France was one of the few major countries supportive of the Biafrans (the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States sided with the Nigerian government), and the conditions within the blockade were unknown to the world. A number of French doctors volunteered with the French Red Cross to work in hospitals and feeding centers in besieged Biafra.[3] One of the co-founders of the organisation was Bernard Kouchner, who later became a high-ranking French politician.

After entering the country, the volunteers, in addition to Biafran health workers and hospitals, were subjected to attacks by the Nigerian army, and witnessed civilians being murdered and starved by the blockading forces. The doctors publicly criticised the Nigerian government and the Red Cross for their seemingly complicit behaviour. These doctors concluded that a new aid organisation was needed that would ignore political/religious boundaries and prioritise the welfare of survivors.[3] Apart from Nigeria, MSF exists in several African countries including Benin, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Sudan, Sierra Leone, etc.

1971 establishment

The Groupe d'intervention médicale et chirurgicale en urgence ("Emergency Medical and Surgical Intervention Group") was formed in 1971 by French doctors who had worked in Biafra, to provide aid and to emphasize the importance of survivors' rights. At the same time, Raymond Borel, the editor of the French medical journal TONUS, had started a group called Secours Médical Français ("French Medical Relief") in response to the 1970 Bhola cyclone, which killed at least 625,000 in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Borel had intended to recruit doctors to provide aid to survivors of natural disasters. On 22 December 1971, the two groups of colleagues merged to form Médecins Sans Frontières.[9]

MSF's first mission was to the Nicaraguan capital, Managua, where a 1972 earthquake had destroyed most of the city and killed between 10,000 and 30,000 people.[10] The organisation, today known for its quick response in an emergency, arrived three days after the Red Cross had set up a relief mission. On 18 and 19 September 1974, Hurricane Fifi caused major flooding in Honduras and killed thousands of people (estimates vary), and MSF set up its first long-term medical relief mission.[11]

Between 1975 and 1979, after South Vietnam had fallen to North Vietnam, millions of Cambodians immigrated to Thailand to avoid the Khmer Rouge.[12] In response, MSF set up its first refugee camp missions in Thailand.[9] When Vietnam withdrew from Cambodia in 1989, MSF started long-term relief missions to help survivors of the mass killings and reconstruct the country's health care system.[13] Although its missions to Thailand to help victims of war in Southeast Asia could arguably be seen as its first wartime mission, MSF saw its first mission to a true war zone, including exposure to hostile fire, in 1976. MSF spent nine years (1976–1984) assisting surgeries in the hospitals of various cities in Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War, and established a reputation for its neutrality and willingness to work under fire. Throughout the war, MSF helped both Christian and Muslim soldiers alike, helping whichever group required the most medical aid at the time. In 1984, as the situation in Lebanon deteriorated further and security for aid groups was minimised, MSF withdrew its volunteers.

Original founders

1970s

Claude Malhuret was elected as the new president of Médecins Sans Frontières in 1977, and soon after debates began over the future of the organisation. In particular, the concept of témoignage ("witnessing"), which refers to speaking out about the suffering that one sees as opposed to remaining silent,[14] was being opposed or played down by Malhuret and his supporters. Malhuret thought MSF should avoid criticism of the governments of countries in which they were working, while Kouchner believed that documenting and broadcasting the suffering in a country was the most effective way to solve a problem.

In 1979, after four years of refugee movement from South Vietnam and the surrounding countries by foot and by boat, French intellectuals made an appeal in Le Monde for "A Boat for Vietnam", a project intended to provide medical aid to the refugees. Although the project did not receive support from the majority of MSF, some, including later Minister Bernard Kouchner, chartered a ship called L'Île de Lumière ("The Island of Light"), and, along with doctors, journalists and photographers, sailed to the South China Sea and provided some medical aid to the boat people. The splinter organisation that undertook this, Médecins du Monde, later developed the idea of humanitarian intervention as a duty, in particular on the part of Western nations such as France.[15] In 2007 MSF clarified that for nearly 30 years MSF and Kouchner have had public disagreements on such issues as the right to intervene and the use of armed force for humanitarian reasons. Kouchner is in favour of the latter, whereas MSF stands up for an impartial humanitarian action, independent from all political, economic and religious powers.[16]

1980s

In 1982, Malhuret and Rony Brauman (who became the organisation's president in 1982) brought increased financial independence to MSF by introducing fundraising-by-mail to better collect donations. The 1980s also saw the establishment of the other operational sections from MSF-France (1971): MSF-Belgium (1980), MSF-Switzerland (1981), MSF-Holland (1984), and MSF-Spain (1986). MSF-Luxembourg was the first support section, created in 1986. The early 1990s saw the establishment of the majority of the support sections: MSF-Greece (1990), MSF-USA (1990), MSF-Canada (1991), MSF-Japan (1992), MSF-UK (1993), MSF-Italy (1993), MSF-Australia (1994), as well as Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Hong Kong (MSF-UAE was formed later).[9][17] Malhuret and Brauman were instrumental in professionalising MSF. In December 1979, after the Soviet army had invaded Afghanistan, field missions were immediately set up to provide medical aid to the mujahideen, and in February 1980, MSF publicly denounced the Khmer Rouge. During the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, MSF set up nutrition programmes in the country in 1984, but was expelled in 1985 after denouncing the abuse of international aid and the forced resettlements. MSF's explicit attacks on the Ethiopian government led to other NGOs criticizing their abandonment of their supposed neutrality and contributed to a series of debates in France around humanitarian ethics.[18][19] The group also set up equipment to produce clean drinking water for the population of San Salvador, capital of El Salvador, after 10 October 1986 earthquake that struck the city.[9][20]

1990s

The early 1990s saw MSF open a number of new national sections, and at the same time, set up field missions in some of the most dangerous and distressing situations it had ever encountered.

In 1990, MSF first entered Liberia to help civilians and refugees affected by the Liberian Civil War.[21] Constant fighting throughout the 1990s and the Second Liberian Civil War have kept MSF volunteers actively providing nutrition, basic health care, and mass vaccinations, and speaking out against attacks on hospitals and feeding stations, especially in Monrovia.[22]

Field missions were set up to provide relief to Kurdish refugees who had survived the al-Anfal Campaign, for which evidence of atrocities was being collected in 1991.[23] 1991 also saw the beginning of the civil war in Somalia, during which MSF set up field missions in 1992 alongside a UN peacekeeping mission. Although the UN-aborted operations by 1993, MSF representatives continued with their relief work, running clinics and hospitals for civilians.[24]

MSF first began work in Srebrenica (in Bosnia and Herzegovina) as part of a UN convoy in 1993, one year after the Bosnian War had begun. The city had become surrounded by the Bosnian Serb Army and, containing about 60,000 Bosniaks, had become an enclave guarded by a United Nations Protection Force. MSF was the only organisation providing medical care to the surrounded civilians, and as such, did not denounce the genocide for fear of being expelled from the country (it did, however, denounce the lack of access for other organisations). MSF was forced to leave the area in 1995 when the Bosnian Serb Army captured the town. 40,000 Bosniak civilian inhabitants were deported, and approximately 7,000 were killed in mass executions.[25]

1994 Rwandan Genocide

When the genocide in Rwanda began in April 1994, some delegates of MSF working in the country were incorporated into the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) medical team for protection. Both groups succeeded in keeping all main hospitals in Rwanda's capital Kigali operational throughout the main period of the genocide. MSF, together with several other aid organisations, had to leave the country in 1995, although many MSF and ICRC volunteers worked together under the ICRC's rules of engagement, which held that neutrality was of the utmost importance. These events led to a debate within the organisation about the concept of balancing neutrality of humanitarian aid workers against their witnessing role. As a result of its Rwanda mission, the position of MSF with respect to neutrality moved closer to that of the ICRC, a remarkable development in the light of the origin of the organisation.[26]

 
Aerial photograph of a Mihanda, Zaire refugee camp in 1996. Pictured are 500+ tents set up in the Mitumba Mountains.

The ICRC lost 56 and MSF lost almost one hundred of their respective local staff in Rwanda, and MSF-France, which had chosen to evacuate its team from the country (the local staff were forced to stay), denounced the murders and demanded that a French military intervention stop the genocide. MSF-France introduced the slogan "One cannot stop a genocide with doctors" to the media, and the controversial Opération Turquoise followed less than one month later.[9] This intervention directly or indirectly resulted in movements of hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees to Zaire and Tanzania in what became known as the Great Lakes refugee crisis, and subsequent cholera epidemics, starvation and more mass killings in the large groups of civilians. MSF-France returned to the area and provided medical aid to refugees in Goma.[27]

At the time of the genocide, competition between the medical efforts of MSF, the ICRC, and other aid groups had reached an all-time high,[28] but the conditions in Rwanda prompted a drastic change in the way humanitarian organisations approached aid missions. The Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief Programmes was created by the ICRC in 1994 to provide a framework for humanitarian missions and MSF is a signatory of this code.[29] The code advocates the provision of humanitarian aid only, and groups are urged not to serve any political or religious interest, or be used as a tool for foreign governments.[30] MSF has since still found it necessary to condemn the actions of governments, such as in Chechnya in 1999,[31] but has not demanded another military intervention since then.[9]

2020s

2020 accusations of racism

More than a thousand staffers accused the charity of white supremacy when they voiced their concerns in a 2020 petition. One staffer from Cameroon detailed her experiences with racism from the group's leaders. Many concerns involved different treatment of expatriate staff from Europe and North America, who are typically white, compared to national staff. In an interview with NPR, the president of the organisation acknowledged Doctors Without Borders was founded in racism and pledged to do better.[32]

Response to political changes

MSF issued a statement for safe abortion following Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.[33]

Activities by location

 
Countries where MSF had missions in 2015

In 1999, the organisation spoke out about the lack of humanitarian support in Kosovo and Chechnya, having set up field missions to help civilians affected by the respective political situations. Although MSF had worked in the Kosovo region since 1993, the onset of the Kosovo War prompted the movement of tens of thousands of refugees, and a decline in suitable living conditions. MSF provided shelter, water and health care to civilians affected by NATO's strategic bombing campaigns.[34]

A serious crisis within MSF erupted in connection with the organisation's work in Kosovo when the Greek section of MSF was expelled from the organisation. The Greek MSF section had gained access to Serbia at the cost of accepting Serb government imposed limits on where it could go and what it could see – terms that the rest of the MSF movement had refused.[35] A non-MSF source alleged that the exclusion of the Greek section happened because its members extended aid to both Albanian and Serbian civilians in Pristina during NATO's bombing.[36] The rift was healed only in 2005 with the re-admission of the Greek section to MSF.

A similar situation was found in Chechnya, whose civilian population was largely forced from their homes into unhealthy conditions and subjected to the violence of the Second Chechen War.[37]

MSF has been working in Haiti since 1991, but since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced from power, the country has seen a large increase in civilian attacks and rape by armed groups. In addition to providing surgical and psychological support in existing hospitals – offering the only free surgery available in Port-au-Prince – field missions have been set up to rebuild water and waste management systems and treat survivors of major flooding caused by Hurricane Jeanne; patients with HIV/AIDS and malaria, both of which are widespread in the country, also receive better treatment and monitoring.[38] As a result of 12 January 2010 Haiti earthquake, reports from Haiti indicated that all three of the organisation's hospitals had been severely damaged; one collapsing completely and the other two having to be abandoned.[39] Following the quake, MSF sent about nine planes loaded with medical equipment and a field hospital to help treat the victims. However, the landings of some of the planes had to be delayed due to the massive number of humanitarian and military flights coming in.[40]

The Kashmir Conflict in northern India resulted in a more recent MSF intervention (the first field mission was set up in 1999) to help civilians displaced by fighting in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as in Manipur. Psychological support is a major target of missions, but teams have also set up programmes to treat tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria.[41] Mental health support has been of significant importance for MSF in much of southern Asia since the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.[42]

MSF went through a long process of self-examination and discussion in 2005–2006. Many issues were debated, including the treatment of "nationals" as well as "fair employment" and self-criticism.[43]

Sub-Saharan Africa

 
An MSF outpost in Darfur (2005)

MSF has been active in a large number of African countries for decades, sometimes serving as the sole provider of health care, food, and water. Although MSF has consistently attempted to increase media coverage of the situation in Africa to increase international support, long-term field missions are still necessary. Treating and educating the public about HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, which sees the most deaths and cases of the disease in the world,[44] is a major task for volunteers. Of the 14.6 million people in need of anti-retroviral treatment the WHO estimated that only 5.25 million people were receiving it in developing countries, and MSF continues to urge governments and companies to increase research and development into HIV/AIDS treatments to decrease cost and increase availability.[45]

(See AIDS in Africa for more information)

Sierra Leone

In the late 1990s, MSF missions were set up to treat tuberculosis and anaemia in residents of the Aral Sea area, and look after civilians affected by drug-resistant disease, famine, and epidemics of cholera and AIDS.[46] They vaccinated 3 million Nigerians against meningitis during an epidemic in 1996[47] and denounced the Taliban's neglect of health care for women in 1997.[48] Arguably, the most significant country in which MSF set up field missions in the late 1990s was Sierra Leone, which was involved in a civil war at the time. In 1998, volunteers began assisting in surgeries in Freetown to help with an increasing number of amputees, and collecting statistics on civilians (men, women and children) being attacked by large groups of men claiming to represent ECOMOG. The groups of men were travelling between villages and systematically chopping off one or both of each resident's arms, raping women, gunning down families, razing houses, and forcing survivors to leave the area.[49] Long-term projects following the end of the civil war included psychological support and phantom limb pain management.[50]

Sudan

Since 1979, MSF has been providing medical humanitarian assistance in Sudan, a nation plagued by starvation and the civil war, prevalent malnutrition and one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. In March 2009, it is reported that MSF has employed 4,590 field staff in Sudan[51] tackling issues such as armed conflicts, epidemic diseases, health care and social exclusion. MSF's continued presence and work in Sudan is one of the organisation's largest interventions. MSF provides a range of health care services including nutritional support, reproductive healthcare, Kala-Azar treatment, counselling services and surgery to the people living in Sudan.[52] Common diseases prevalent in Sudan include tuberculosis, kala-azar also known as visceral leishmaniasis, meningitis, measles, cholera, and malaria.

Kala-Azar in Sudan

Kala-azar, also known as visceral leishmaniasis, has been one of the major health problems in Sudan. After the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between North and Southern Sudan on 9 January 2005, the increase in stability within the region helped further efforts in healthcare delivery. Médicins Sans Frontières tested a combination of sodium stibogluconate and paromomycin, which would reduce treatment duration (from 30 to 17 days) and cost in 2008.[53] In March 2010, MSF set up its first Kala-Azar treatment centre in Eastern Sudan, providing free treatment for this otherwise deadly disease. If left untreated, there is a fatality rate of 99% within 1–4 months of infection.[54] Since the treatment centre was set up, MSF has cured more than 27,000 Kala-Azar patients with a success rate of approximately 90–95%.[55] There are plans to open an additional Kala-Azar treatment centre in Malakal, Southern Sudan, to cope with the overwhelming number of patients that are seeking treatment. MSF has been providing necessary medical supplies to hospitals and training Sudanese health professionals to help them deal with Kala-Azar.[56] MSF, Sudanese Ministry of Health and other national and international institutions are combining efforts to improve on the treatment and diagnosis of Kala-Azar.[57] Research on its cures and vaccines are currently being conducted.[57] In December 2010, South Sudan was hit with the worst outbreak of Kala-Azar in eight years.[51] The number of patients seeking treatment increased eight-fold as compared to the year before.[51]

Health care infrastructure in Sudan

Sudan's latest civil war began in 1983 and ended in 2005 when a peace agreement was signed between North Sudan and South Sudan.[51] MSF medical teams were active throughout and prior to the civil war, providing emergency medical humanitarian assistance in multiple locations.[51] The situation of poor infrastructure in the South was aggravated by the civil war and resulted in the worsening of the region's appalling health indicators. An estimated 75 percent of people in the nascent nation has no access to basic medical care and 1 in seven women dies during childbirth.[51] Malnutrition and disease outbreaks are perennial concerns as well. In 2011, MSF clinic in Jonglei State, South Sudan, was looted and attacked by raiders.[58] Hundreds, including women and children were killed. Valuable items including medical equipment and drugs were lost during the raid and parts of the MSF facilities were destroyed in a fire.[58] The incident had serious repercussions as MSF is the only primary health care provider in this part of Jonglei State.[58]

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Although active in the Congo region of Africa since 1985, the First and Second Congo War brought increased violence and instability to the area. MSF has had to evacuate its teams from areas such as around Bunia, in the Ituri district due to extreme violence,[59] but continues to work in other areas to provide food to tens of thousands of displaced civilians, as well as treat survivors of mass rapes and widespread fighting.[60] The treatment and possible vaccination against diseases such as cholera, measles, polio, Marburg fever, sleeping sickness,[61] HIV/AIDS, and bubonic plague is also important to prevent or slow down epidemics.[62]

Uganda

MSF has been active in Uganda since 1980, and provided relief to civilians during the country's guerrilla war during the Second Obote Period. However, the formation of the Lord's Resistance Army saw the beginning of a long campaign of violence in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. Civilians were subjected to mass killings and rapes, torture, and abductions of children, who would later serve as sex slaves or child soldiers. Faced with more than 1.5 million people displaced from their homes, MSF set up relief programmes in internally displaced person (IDP) camps to provide clean water, food and sanitation. Diseases such as tuberculosis, measles, polio, cholera, ebola, and HIV/AIDS occur in epidemics in the country, and volunteers provide vaccinations (in the cases of measles and polio) and/or treatment to the residents. Mental health is also an important aspect of medical treatment for MSF teams in Uganda since most people refuse to leave the IDP camps for constant fear of being attacked.[63][64]

Ivory Coast

MSF first camp set up a field mission in Côte d'Ivoire in 1990, but ongoing violence and the 2002 division of the country by rebel groups and the government led to several massacres, and MSF teams have even begun to suspect that an ethnic cleansing is occurring.[65] Mass measles vaccinations,[66] tuberculosis treatment and the re-opening of hospitals closed by fighting are projects run by MSF, which is the only group providing aid in much of the country.[65]

MSF has strongly promoted the use of contraception in Africa.

West African Ebola outbreak
 
A Médecins Sans Frontières staff member adjusts Dr. Joel Montgomery, Team Lead for CDC's Ebola Response Team in Liberia, goggles before Montgomery enters the Ebola treatment unit (ETU), ELWA 3. MSF operates the ELWA 3 ETU, which opened on August 17.

During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014, MSF met serious medical demands largely on its own, after the organisation's early warnings were largely ignored.[67]

Burundi

MSF-Burundi has aided in attending to casualties suffered in the 2019 Burundi landslides.[68]

Asia

Sri Lanka

MSF is involved in Sri Lanka, where a 26-year civil war ended in 2009 and MSF has adapted its activities there to continue its mission. For example, it helps with physical therapy for patients with spinal cord injuries.[69] It conducts counseling sessions, and has set up an "operating theatre for reconstructive orthopaedic surgery and supplied specialist surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses to operate on patients with complicated war-related injuries".[70]

Cambodia

MSF first provided medical help to civilians and refugees who have escaped to camps along the Thai-Cambodian border in 1979. Due to long decades of war, a proper health care system in the country was severely lacking and MSF moved inland in 1989 to help restructure basic medical facilities.

In 1999, Cambodia was hit with a malaria epidemic. The situation of the epidemic was aggravated by a lack of qualified practitioners and poor quality control which led to a market of fake antimalarial drugs. Counterfeit antimalarial drugs were responsible for the deaths of at least 30 people during the epidemic.[71] This has prompted efforts by MSF to set up and fund a malaria outreach project and utilise Village Malaria Workers.[72] MSF also introduced a switching of first-line treatment to a combination therapy (Artesunate and Mefloquine) to combat resistance and fatality of old drugs that were used to treat the disease traditionally.[73]

Cambodia is one of the hardest hit HIV/AIDS countries in Southeast Asia. In 2001, MSF started introducing antiretroviral (ARV) therapy to AIDS patients for free. This therapy prolongs the patients' lives and is a long-term treatment.[74] In 2002, MSF established chronic diseases clinics with the Cambodian Ministry of Health in various provinces to integrate HIV/AIDS treatment, alongside hypertension, diabetes, and arthritis which have high prevalence rate. This aims to reduce facility-related stigma as patients are able to seek treatment in a multi-purpose clinic in contrast to a HIV/AIDS specialised treatment centre.[75]

MSF also provided humanitarian aid in times of natural disaster such as a major flood in 2002 which affected up to 1.47 million people.[76] MSF introduced a community-based tuberculosis programme in 2004 in remote villages, where village volunteers are delegated to facilitate the medication of patients. In partnership with local health authorities and other NGOs, MSF encouraged decentralized clinics and rendered localized treatments to more rural areas from 2006.[77] Since 2007, MSF has extended general health care, counselling, HIV/AIDS and TB treatment to prisons in Phnom Penh via mobile clinics.[78] However, poor sanitation and lack of health care still prevails in most Cambodian prisons as they remain as some of the world's most crowded prisons.[79]

In 2007, MSF worked with the Cambodian Ministry of Health to provide psychosocial and technical support in offering pediatric HIV/AIDS treatment to affected children.[80] MSF also provided medical supplies and staff to help in one of the worst dengue outbreaks in 2007,[81] which had more than 40,000 people hospitalized, killing 407 people, primarily children.[82]

In 2010, Southern and Eastern provinces of Cambodia were hit with a cholera epidemic and MSF responded by providing medical support that were adapted for usage in the country.[83]

Cambodia is one of 22 countries listed by WHO as having a high burden of tuberculosis. WHO estimates that 64% of all Cambodians carry the tuberculosis mycobacterium. Hence, MSF has since shifted its focus away from HIV/AIDS to tuberculosis, handing over most HIV-related programs to local health authorities.[84]

Middle East and North Africa

Libya

The 2011 Libyan civil war has prompted efforts by MSF to set up a hospital and mental health services to help locals affected by the conflict. The fighting created a backlog of patients that needed surgery. With parts of the country slowly returning to livable, MSF has started working with local health personnel to address the needs. The need for psychological counseling has increased and MSF has set up mental health services to address the fears and stress of people living in tents without water and electricity. Currently MSF is the only International Aid organisation with actual presence in the country.

Search and Rescue in the Mediterranean Sea

MSF is providing Maritime Search And Rescue (SAR) services on the Mediterranean Sea to save the lives of migrants attempting to cross with unseaworthy boats. The Mission started in 2015 after the EU ended its major SAR operation Mare Nostrum severely diminishing much needed SAR capacities in the Mediterranean.[85] Throughout the mission MSF has operated its own vessels like the Bourbon Argos (2015–2016), Dignity 1 (2015–2016) and VOS Prudence (2016–2017). MSF has also provided medical teams to support other NGOs and their ships like the MOAS Phoenix (2015) or the Aquarius (2017–2018) and Ocean Viking (2019–2020) with SOS Méditerranée[86] and Mediterranea Saving Humans. In August 2017 MSF decided to suspend the activities of the VOS Prudence protesting restrictions and threats by the Libyan "Coast Guard".[87]

In December 2018 MSF and SOS Méditerranée were forced to end operations of the Aquarius, at that date the last remaining vessel supported by MSF. This came after attacks by EU states that stripped the vessel of its registration and produced criminal accusations against MSF. Up to then 80,000 people had been rescued or assisted since the beginning of the mission.[88] Operations resumed with Ocean Viking in July 2019, but the ship was seized in Sicily in July 2020.[89] In May 2021, MSF returned to refugee rescue operations in the Mediterranean with a new vessel, the Geo Barents.[90][89] Within a month this resulted in the rescue of some 400 people.[91]

Yemen

MSF is involved in trying to help with the humanitarian crisis caused by the Yemeni Civil War. The organisation operates eleven hospitals and health centres in Yemen and provides support to another 18 hospitals or health centres.[92] According to MSF, since October 2015, four of its hospitals and one ambulance have been destroyed by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes.[93] In August 2016, an airstrike on Abs hospital killed 19 people, including one MSF staff member, and wounded 24.[92] According to MSF, the GPS coordinates of the hospital were repeatedly shared with all parties to the conflict, including the Saudi-led coalition, and its location was well-known.

See also: Airstrikes on hospitals in Yemen

Europe

The Netherlands

In August and September 2022, MSF provided medical care to asylum seekers staying outside the overcrowded migration centre in Ter Apel, the Netherlands.[94]

Organisation of activities

Before a field mission is established in a country, an MSF team visits the area to determine the nature of the humanitarian emergency, the level of safety in the area and what type of aid is needed (this is called an "exploratory mission").

Medical aid is the main objective of most missions, although some missions help in such areas as water purification and nutrition.[95]

Field mission team

 
MSF logistician in Nigeria showing plans

A field mission team usually consists of a small number of coordinators to head each component of a field mission, and a "head of mission". The head of mission usually has the most experience in humanitarian situations of the members of the team, and it is their job to deal with the media, national governments and other humanitarian organisations. The head of mission does not necessarily have a medical background.

Medical volunteers include physicians, surgeons, nurses, and various other specialists. In addition to operating the medical and nutrition components of the field mission, these volunteers are sometimes in charge of a group of local medical staff and provide training for them.

Although the medical volunteers almost always receive the most media attention when the world becomes aware of an MSF field mission, there are a number of non-medical volunteers who help keep the field mission functioning. Logisticians are responsible for providing everything that the medical component of a mission needs, ranging from security and vehicle maintenance to food and electricity supplies. They may be engineers and/or foremen, but they usually also help with setting up treatment centres and supervising local staff. Other non-medical staff are water/sanitation specialists, who are usually experienced engineers in the fields of water treatment and management and financial/administration/human resources experts who are placed with field missions.

Medical component

 
Doctors from MSF and the American CDC put on protective gear before entering an Ebola treatment ward in Liberia, August 2014.

Vaccination campaigns are a major part of the medical care provided during MSF missions. Diseases such as diphtheria, measles, meningitis, tetanus, pertussis, yellow fever, polio, and cholera, all of which are uncommon in developed countries, may be prevented with vaccination. Some of these diseases, such as cholera and measles, spread rapidly in large populations living in close proximity, such as in a refugee camp, and people must be immunised by the hundreds or thousands in a short period of time.[96] For example, in Beira, Mozambique, in 2004, an experimental cholera vaccine was received twice by approximately 50,000 residents in about one month.[97]

An equally important part of the medical care provided during MSF missions is AIDS treatment (with antiretroviral drugs), AIDS testing, and education. MSF is the only source of treatment for many countries in Africa, whose citizens make up the majority of people with HIV and AIDS worldwide.[44] Because antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) are not readily available, MSF usually provides treatment for opportunistic infections and educates the public on how to slow transmission of the disease.[98]

In most countries, MSF increases the capabilities of local hospitals by improving sanitation, providing equipment and drugs, and training local hospital staff.[99] When the local staff is overwhelmed, MSF may open new specialised clinics for treatment of an endemic disease or surgery for victims of war. International staff start these clinics but MSF strives to increase the local staff's ability to run the clinics themselves through training and supervision.[100] In some countries, like Nicaragua, MSF provides public education to increase awareness of reproductive health care and venereal disease.[101]

Since most of the areas that require field missions have been affected by a natural disaster, civil war, or endemic disease, the residents usually require psychological support as well. Although the presence of an MSF medical team may decrease stress somewhat among survivors, often a team of psychologists or psychiatrists help people who have depression, survivors of domestic violence and those with substance use disorder. The doctors may also train local mental health staff.[102] Such cases include Palestinian refugee camps, where long-term displacement and geopolitical circumstances have left many residents without long-term purpose or clear strategies for action. Humanitarian actors, like Médecins Sans Frontières, have sometimes responded by proferring coping skills to residents as a humanitarian aim and outcome. In the late 2000s, Médecins Sans Frontières launched a mental health program in Burj al Barajneh camp in Lebanon, providing sexual and reproductive health services, mental health support, and health promotion activities.[103][104]

Nutrition

Often in situations where an MSF mission is set up, there is moderate or severe malnutrition as a result of war, drought, or government economic mismanagement. Intentional starvation is also sometimes used during a war as a weapon, and MSF, in addition to providing food, brings awareness to the situation and insists on foreign government intervention. Infectious diseases and diarrhoea, both of which cause weight loss and weakening of a person's body (especially in children), must be treated with medication and proper nutrition to prevent further infections and weight loss. A combination of the above situations, as when a civil war is fought during times of drought and infectious disease outbreaks, can create famine.[105]

 
An MSF health worker examines a malnourished child in Ethiopia, July 2011.

In emergency situations where there is a lack of nutritious food, but not to the level of a true famine, protein-energy malnutrition is most common among young children. Marasmus, a form of calorie deficiency, is the most common form of childhood malnutrition and is characterised by severe wasting and often fatal weakening of the immune system. Kwashiorkor, a form of calorie and protein deficiency, is a more serious type of malnutrition in young children, and can negatively affect physical and mental development. Both types of malnutrition can make opportunistic infections fatal.[106] In these situations, MSF sets up Therapeutic Feeding Centres for monitoring the children and any other malnourished individuals.

A Therapeutic Feeding Centre (or Therapeutic Feeding Programme) is designed to treat severe malnutrition through the gradual introduction of a special diet intended to promote weight gain after the individual has been treated for other health problems. The treatment programme is split between two phases:[107]

  • Phase 1 lasts for 24 hours and involves basic health care and several small meals of low energy/protein food spaced over the day.
  • Phase 2 involves monitoring of the patient and several small meals of high energy/protein food spaced over each day until the individual's weight approaches normal.

MSF uses foods designed specifically for treatment of severe malnutrition. During phase 1, a type of therapeutic milk called F-75 is fed to patients. F-75 is a relatively low energy, low fat/protein milk powder that must be mixed with water and given to patients to prepare their bodies for phase 2.[108] During phase 2, therapeutic milk called F-100, which is higher in energy/fat/protein content than F-75, is given to patients, usually along with a peanut butter mixture called Plumpy'nut. F-100 and Plumpy'nut are designed to quickly provide large amounts of nutrients so that patients can be treated efficiently.[109][110] Other special food fed to populations in danger of starvation includes enriched flour and porridge, as well as a high protein biscuit called BP5. BP5 is a popular food for treating populations because it can be distributed easily and sent home with individuals, or it can be crushed and mixed with therapeutic milk for specific treatments.[111]

Dehydration, sometimes due to diarrhoea or cholera, may also be present in a population, and MSF set up rehydration centres to combat this. A special solution called Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS), which contains glucose and electrolytes, is given to patients to replace fluids lost. Antibiotics are also sometimes given to individuals with diarrhoea if it is known that they have cholera or dysentery.[112]

Water and sanitation

Clean water is essential for hygiene, for consumption and for feeding programmes (for mixing with powdered therapeutic milk or porridge), as well as for preventing the spread of water-borne disease.[113] As such, MSF water engineers and volunteers must create a source of clean water. This is usually achieved by modifying an existing water well, by digging a new well and/or starting a water treatment project to obtain clean water for a population. Water treatment in these situations may consist of storage sedimentation, filtration and/or chlorination depending on available resources.[114]

Sanitation is an essential part of field missions, and it may include education of local medical staff in proper sterilisation techniques, sewage treatment projects, proper waste disposal, and education of the population in personal hygiene. Proper wastewater treatment and water sanitation are the best way to prevent the spread of serious water-borne diseases, such as cholera.[115] Simple wastewater treatment systems can be set up by volunteers to protect drinking water from contamination.[116] Garbage disposal could include pits for normal waste and incineration for medical waste.[117] However, the most important subject in sanitation is the education of the local population, so that proper waste and water treatment can continue once MSF has left the area.

Statistics

In order to accurately report the conditions of a humanitarian emergency to the rest of the world and to governing bodies, data on a number of factors are collected during each field mission. The rate of malnutrition in children is used to determine the malnutrition rate in the population, and then to determine the need for feeding centres.[118] Various types of mortality rates are used to report the seriousness of a humanitarian emergency, and a common method used to measure mortality in a population is to have staff constantly monitoring the number of burials at cemeteries.[119] By compiling data on the frequency of diseases in hospitals, MSF can track the occurrence and location of epidemic increases (or "seasons") and stockpile vaccines and other drugs. For example, the "Meningitis Belt" (sub-Saharan Africa, which sees the most cases of meningitis in the world) has been "mapped" and the meningitis season occurs between December and June. Shifts in the location of the Belt and the timing of the season can be predicted using cumulative data over many years.[120]

In addition to epidemiological surveys, MSF also uses population surveys to determine the rates of violence in various regions. By estimating the scopes of massacres, and determining the rate of kidnappings, rapes, and killings, psychosocial programmes can be implemented to lower the suicide rate and increase the sense of security in a population.[121] Large-scale forced migrations, excessive civilian casualties and massacres can be quantified using surveys, and MSF can use the results to put pressure on governments to provide help, or even expose genocide.[122] MSF conducted the first comprehensive mortality survey in Darfur in 2004.[123] However, there may be ethical problems in collecting these statistics.[124][125]

Innovation and use of Technology

In 2014 MSF partnered with satellite operator SES, other NGOs Archemed, Fondation Follereau, Friendship Luxembourg and German Doctors, and the Luxembourg government in the pilot phase of SATMED, a project to use satellite broadband technology to bring eHealth and telemedicine to isolated areas of developing countries. SATMED was first deployed in Sierra Leone in support of the fight against Ebola.[126]

Governance and structure

List of international presidents:[127]

In addition to the Geneva global headquarters and five regional operational centers, as of 2020 MSF had national offices as follows:[128]

  1. MSF Australia
  2. MSF Austria
  3. MSF Belgium
  4. MSF Brazil
  5. MSF Canada
  6. MSF Czech Republic
  7. MSF Denmark
  8. MSF Eastern Africa
  9. MSF Finland
  10. MSF France
  11. MSF Germany
  12. MSF Greece
  13. MSF Hong Kong
  14. MSF Ireland
  15. MSF Italy
  16. MSF Japan
  17. MSF Republic of Korea
  18. MSF Lat (Spanish Speaking South America)
  19. MSF Luxembourg
  20. MSF Mexico
  21. MSF Netherlands
  22. MSF Norway
  23. MSF South Africa
  24. MSF SARA (South Asia Regional Association: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh)
  25. MSF Spain
  26. MSF Sweden
  27. MSF Switzerland
  28. MSF Taiwan
  29. MSF United Kingdom
  30. MSF United States

In-house organisations

Epicentre

In 1986, MSF created Epicentre, an in-house research organisation, to support its activities. Epicentre conducts training, publishes scientific papers and develops new techniques for MSF. It performs epidemiological research, conducts clinical vaccine trials during outbreaks MSF is responding to, experiments on vaccine stability, and analysis of vaccine deployment strategy.[129]

Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines

Main article: Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines

The Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines was initiated in 1999 to increase access to essential medicines in developing countries. "Essential medicines" are those drugs that are needed in sufficient supply to treat a disease common to a population.[130] However, most diseases common to populations in developing countries are no longer common to populations in developed countries; therefore, pharmaceutical companies find that producing these drugs is no longer profitable and may raise the price per treatment, decrease development of the drug (and new treatments) or even stop production of the drug. MSF often lacks effective drugs during field missions, and started the campaign to put pressure on governments and pharmaceutical companies to increase funding for essential medicines.

In 2006, MSF tried to use its influence to urge the drug maker Novartis to drop its case against India's patent law that prevents Novartis from patenting its drugs in India. A few years earlier, Novartis also sued South Africa to prevent it from importing cheaper AIDS drugs.[131] On 1 April 2013, it was announced that the Indian court invalidated Novartis's patent on imatinib (Gleevec). This decision makes the drug available via generics on the Indian market at a considerably lower price.[132]

In March 2017, Els Torreele who had been leading the campaign from 1999 to 2003 returned to MSF as the executive director of the Access Campaign. For the following three years she led a global analysis and advocacy team whose goal was to guarantee that appropriate medicines, vaccines and diagnostics are developed, available, affordable and adapted to people's needs.[133]

As of 2022, the most critical subjects of the campaign were rising antimicrobial resistance and outbreaks of epidemic diseases such as Ebola and COVID. Still, a lot of vaccines, diagnostics and medicines were inaccessible for people in need.[134]

Security risks to staff

MSF staff are sometimes attacked or kidnapped. In some countries, humanitarian-aid organisations are viewed as helping the enemy. If an aid mission is perceived to be exclusively set up for victims on one side of the conflict, it may come under attack. However, the War on Terrorism has generated attitudes among some groups in US-occupied countries that non-governmental aid organisations such as MSF are allied with or even work for the Coalition forces. Insecurity in cities in Afghanistan and Iraq rose significantly following United States operations, and MSF has declared that providing aid in these countries was too dangerous.[135] The organisation was forced to evacuate its teams from Afghanistan on 28 July 2004,[136] after five staff (Afghans Fasil Ahmad and Besmillah, Belgian Hélène de Beir, Norwegian Egil Tynæs, and Dutchman Willem Kwint) were killed on 2 June in an ambush by unidentified militia near Khair Khāna in Badghis Province.[137] In June 2007, Elsa Serfass, a staff member with MSF-France, was killed[138] in the Central African Republic and in January 2008, two expatriate staff (Damien Lehalle and Victor Okumu) and a national staff member (Mohammed Bidhaan Ali) were killed in an organised attack[139] in Somalia resulting in the closing of the project.

Arrests and abductions in politically unstable regions can also occur for volunteers, and in some cases, MSF field missions can be expelled entirely from a country. Arjan Erkel, Head of Mission in Dagestan in the North Caucasus, was kidnapped and held hostage in an unknown location by unknown abductors from 12 August 2002 until 11 April 2004. Paul Foreman, head of MSF-Holland, was arrested in Sudan in May 2005 for refusing to divulge documents used in compiling a report on rapes carried out by the pro-government Janjaweed militias (see Darfur conflict). Foreman cited the privacy of the women involved, and MSF alleged that the Sudanese government had arrested him because it disliked the bad publicity generated by the report.[140]

On 14 August 2013, MSF announced that it was closing all of its programmes in Somalia due to attacks on its staff by Al-Shabaab militants and perceived indifference or inurement to this by the governmental authorities and wider society.[141]

On 3 October 2015, 14 staff and 28 others died when an MSF hospital was bombed by American forces during the Battle of Kunduz.[142] On 7 October 2015, US President Barack Obama issued an apology.[143] Doctors Without Borders was not satisfied by Obama's apology.[144]

Main article: Kunduz hospital airstrike

On 27 October 2015, an MSF hospital in Sa'dah, Yemen, was bombed by the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition.[145]

On 28 November 2015, an MSF-supported hospital was barrel-bombed by a Syrian Air Force helicopter, killing seven and wounding forty-seven people near Homs, Syria.[146]

On 10 January 2016, an MSF-supported hospital in Sa'dah was bombed by the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition, killing six people.[147]

On 15 February 2016, two MSF-supported hospitals in Idlib District and Aleppo, Syria, were bombed, killing at least 20 and injuring dozens of patients and medical personnel.[148][149] Both Russia and the United States denied responsibility and being in the area at the time.[150]

On 28 April 2016, an MSF hospital in Aleppo was bombed, killing 50, including six staff and patients.[151]

On 12 May 2020, an MSF-supported hospital in Dasht-e-Barchi, Kabul, Afghanistan, was attacked by an unknown assailant. The attack left 24 people dead and at least 20 more injured.[152]

On 25 June 2021 three MSF employees were reported killed in Tigray, Ethiopia.[153]

Awards

1999 Nobel Peace Prize

 
James Orbinski speaking about MSF in 2015

The then president of MSF, James Orbinski, gave the Nobel Peace Prize speech on behalf of the organisation. In the opening, he discusses the conditions of the victims of the Rwandan genocide and focuses on one of his woman patients:[154]

There were hundreds of women, children and men brought to the hospital that day, so many that we had to lay them out on the street and even operate on some of them there. The gutters around the hospital ran red with blood. The woman had not just been attacked with a machete, but her entire body rationally and systematically mutilated. Her ears had been cut off. And her face had been so carefully disfigured that a pattern was obvious in the slashes. She was one among many—living an inhuman and simply indescribable suffering. We could do little more for her at the moment than stop the bleeding with a few necessary sutures. We were completely overwhelmed, and she knew that there were so many others. She said to me in the clearest voice I have ever heard, 'Allez, allez…ummera, ummerasha'—'Go, go…my friend, find and let live your courage.'

— James Orbinski, Nobel acceptance speech for MSF

Orbinski affirmed the organisation's commitment to publicizing the issues MSF encountered, stating[155]

Silence has long been confused with neutrality, and has been presented as a necessary condition for humanitarian action. From its beginning, MSF was created in opposition to this assumption. We are not sure that words can always save lives, but we know that silence can certainly kill.

— James Orbinski

Lasker Prize

MSF received the Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award in 2015 from the New York based Lasker Foundation.[156]

Namesakes

The French game show Jeux Sans Frontières ("Games Without Frontiers") is older, being first broadcast in Europe in 1965.

A number of other unrelated non-governmental organisations have adopted names ending in "Sans Frontières" or "Without Borders", inspired by Médecins Sans Frontières: for example, Engineers Without Borders, Avocats Sans Frontières (Lawyers Without Borders), Reporters sans frontières (Reporters Without Borders), Payasos Sin Fronteras (Clowns Without Borders), Bibliothèques Sans Frontières, and Homeopaths Without Borders.

Controversies

There have been several significant scandals including sexual misconduct,[157][158][159] racism,[160][161] exploitation and other similar cases,[162][163] including exploitation of patients in their care, including children and staff.[164]

One scandal involves exploitative images taken and sold without consent of patients.[165][166] Images include a mourning mother standing over her dead baby boy, child rape survivors and sexual and domestic abuse survivors.[167]

MSF's funding model has come under scrutiny after BlackRock donated $500,000 towards its COVID-19 crisis fund, leading to calls of hypocrisy from staff and other humanitarian organisations.[168][169][170]

See also

Non-fiction work about MSF

Relevant topics

References

  1. ^ a b . Archived from the original on 19 May 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  2. ^ "MSF International Financial Report 2016" (PDF). Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  3. ^ a b c "La création de Médecins Sans Frontières" (in French). Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without borders). La création de Médecins Sans Frontières. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  4. ^ MSF Article MSF's Charter – About MSF – MSF UK 21 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
  5. ^ MSF Article La Mancha Agreement 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
  6. ^ MSF-USA: Special Report: The 10 Most Underreported Humanitarian Crises of 2005 28 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ The Seoul Peace Prize Cultural Foundation Archived 29 August 2013 at archive.today
  8. ^ "Ten Greeks Who Left Their Mark in 2019". GreekReporter.com. 26 December 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Bortolotti, Dan (2004). Hope in Hell: Inside the World of Doctors Without Borders, Firefly Books. ISBN 1-55297-865-6.
  10. ^ Bortolotti, above, puts the death toll at 10,000. An estimate of 15,000 to 30,000, warning of an inevitable dysentery epidemic, comes from: Camilo, V (1974). "The Earthquake in Managua". The Lancet. 303 (7845): 25–26. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(74)93014-1. PMID 4129001.
  11. ^ MSF Article Chronologies: Années 70 (French) MSF-France. Retrieved 10 January 2006.
  12. ^ Dromi, Shai M. (2020). Above the Fray: The Red Cross and the Making of the Humanitarian NGO Sector. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press. p. 126. ISBN 9780226680101.
  13. ^ MSF Article (1999) Cambodia's second chance 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 10 January 2006.
  14. ^ MSF Article (2005) MSF's principles and identity – The challenges ahead 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 10 January 2006.
  15. ^ Richard Seymour, The Liberal Defense of Murder (London 2008), p. 174.
  16. ^ . Doctorswithoutborders.org. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  17. ^ Information obtained from the various sections' websites.
  18. ^ "Denis Kennedy, "Humanitarian NGOs and the Norm of Neutrality: A Community Approach"".
  19. ^ Davey, Eleanor (2011). "Famine, aid, and ideology: the political activism of Médecins Sans Frontières in the 1980s". French Historical Studies. 34 (3): 529–58. doi:10.1215/00161071-1259157.
  20. ^ MSF Article Chronologie: Années 80 (French) MSF-France. Retrieved 10 January 2006.
  21. ^ MSF Article Chronologie: Années 90 (French) MSF-France. Retrieved 11 January 2006.
  22. ^ MSF Article (2004) Liberia: War ends, but the crisis continues 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 11 January 2006.
  23. ^ Choo V (1993). "Forensic evidence of Iraqi atrocities against Kurds". The Lancet. 341 (8840): 299–300. doi:10.1016/0140-6736(93)92641-6. S2CID 54356564.
  24. ^ MSF Article (2005) Somalia – Saving lives in an abandoned land 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 11 January 2006.
  25. ^ MSF Article (2000) Srebrenica five years on MSF. Retrieved 11 January 2006. 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  26. ^ Forsythe DP (2005). International humanitarianism in the contemporary world: forms and issues, Human Rights and Human Welfare Working Papers "Source" (PDF). (257 KB)
  27. ^ One cannot stop a genocide with doctors (French) 10 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine MSF-France. Retrieved 7 January 2006.
  28. ^ Forsythe DP (1996). The International Committee of the Red Cross and humanitarian assistance – A policy analysis, International Review of the Red Cross (314): 512–531.
  29. ^ "Code of Conduct for the ICRC Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief: List of signatories" (PDF). ICRC. Retrieved 7 January 2006.
  30. ^ Principles of Conduct for The ICRC Movement and NGOs in Disaster Response Programmes ICRC. Retrieved 7 January 2006.
  31. ^ Médecins Sans Frontières (James Orbinski) – Nobel Lecture Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 7 January 2006.
  32. ^ "Doctors Without Borders Responds To Charges Of 'Racism' From Its Staff". NPR.
  33. ^ "MSF statement on SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v. Wade".
  34. ^ MSF Article (2000) Kosovo: The physical and psychological consequences of war 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 12 January 2006.
  35. ^ Orbinski, James. (2008) An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the 21st Century, Doubleday Canada. ISBN 978-0-385-66069-3.
  36. ^ . Archived from the original on 1 May 2003.
  37. ^ MSF Article (2002) No end in sight to the war in Chechnya 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 12 January 2006.
  38. ^ MSF Article (2005) Haiti: Working amid intensifying violence 23 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 15 January 2006.
  39. ^ Canadian Press Doctors Without Borders loses all three hospitals in Haitian quakeCP. Retrieved January 2010.,
  40. ^ RT: Doctors Without Borders: Haiti Aid Planes refused landings. 19 January 2010
  41. ^ MSF Article (2005) India: Bringing medical care 24 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 15 January 2006.
  42. ^ MSF Article (2005) Post-tsunami mental health: 'We're still weak at the knees' 22 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 15 January 2006.
  43. ^ Shevchenko, Olga, Fox, Renée. . www.hhrjournal.org. Archived from the original on 23 January 2009. Retrieved 17 August 2009.
  44. ^ a b WHO (2004) Introduction 10 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine. AIDS epidemic update: December 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2006.
  45. ^ WHO article 2010 MSF. Retrieved 15 January 2006.
  46. ^ MSF Article (1998) MSF 1998 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 16 January 2006.
  47. ^ MSF Article (2000) Preventing meningitis 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 16 January 2006.
  48. ^ MSF Article (1998) MSF and other aid organisations evicted from Kabul 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 16 January 2006.
  49. ^ MSF Article (1998) Attacks as told by victims 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 16 January 2006.
  50. ^ MSF Article (2001) Controlling phantom limb pain in Sierra Leone 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 16 January 2006.
  51. ^ a b c d e f MSF Article (2009) -MSF in Sudan – Test 11 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 20 September 2011
  52. ^ MSF Article (2010) – Sudan: An Overview of MSF's Work in 2010 27 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  53. ^ Kolaczinski, Jan H.; Hope, Andrew; Ruiz, Jose Antonio; Rumunu, John; Richer, Michaleen; Seaman, Jill (2008). "Kala-azar Epidemiology and Control, Southern Sudan". Emerging Infectious Diseases. Centers for Disease Control. 14 (4): 664–666. doi:10.3201/eid1404.071099. PMC 2570907. PMID 18394290.
  54. ^ MSF Press release (2010) – Southern Sudan in Grips of Worst Disease Outbreak in Eight Years 29 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 20 September 2011
  55. ^ MSF Article (2010) – Médecins Sans Frontières South Sudan MSF. Retrieved 20 September 2011
  56. ^ MSF Article (2010) – Sudan: MSF to Open Additional Kala Azar Treatment Site in Upper Nile State 27 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 20 September 2011
  57. ^ a b MSF Article (2010) -Sudan: MSF Opens a Kala Azar Treatment Center in Eastern Atbara Region 26 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 20 September 2011
  58. ^ a b c MSF Article (2011) -MSF condemns large-scale attacks on civilians in South Sudan 30 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 20 September 2011
  59. ^ MSF Article (2005) Nothing new in Ituri: The violence continues 16 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 15 January 2006.
  60. ^ MSF Article (2004) The tragedy of the other Congo – A forgotten war's victims 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 12 January 2006.
  61. ^ McNeil, Donald G. Jr. (16 November 2018). "Rapid Cure Approved for Sleeping Sickness, a Horrific Illness". New York Times. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
  62. ^ MSF Article (2000) Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): Complex emergency, human catastrophe 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine WHO. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  63. ^ MSF Article (2005) Uganda: A neglected emergency 8 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 12 January 2006.
  64. ^ MSF Article (2004) Uganda: Aiding civilians targeted by war 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 12 January 2006.
  65. ^ a b MSF Article (2005) Côte d'Ivoire: Renewed violence deepens crisis 8 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 21 January 2006.
  66. ^ MSF Article (2003) MSF vaccinates thousands against measles in Ivory Coast 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 15 January 2006.
  67. ^ Marc DuBois and Caitlin Wake, with Scarlett Sturridge and Christina Bennett (2015) The Ebola response in West Africa: Exposing the politics and culture of international aid London: Overseas Development Institute
  68. ^ "Burundi: Floods & Landslides Flash Update No. 3, 12 December 2019 – Burundi". ReliefWeb. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  69. ^ Armstrong, JC; Nichols, BE; Wilson, JM; Cosico, RA; Shanks, L (20 March 2014). "Spinal cord injury in the emergency context: review of program outcomes of a spinal cord injury rehabilitation program in Sri Lanka". Conflict and Health. 8 (1): 4. doi:10.1186/1752-1505-8-4. PMC 3994551. PMID 24650231.
  70. ^ "International Activity Report 2010". Archived from the original on 14 April 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  71. ^ "CDC Article (2010) Counterfeit and Substandard Antimalarial Drugs. Retrieved 21 February 2012". 29 January 2019.
  72. ^ Yeung, Shunmay; Van Damme, Wim; Socheat, Doung; White, Nicholas J.; Mills, Anne (29 May 2008). "Yeung, S., et al. (2008) Access to artemisinin combination therapy for malaria in remote areas of Cambodia, Malaria Journal. Retrieved 21 February 2012". Malaria Journal. 7 (1): 96. doi:10.1186/1475-2875-7-96. PMC 2430580. PMID 18510724.
  73. ^ Yeung, Shunmay; Van Damme, Wim; Socheat, Duong; White, Nicholas J.; Mills, Anne (20 May 2008). "Yeung, S., et al. (2008) Cost of increasing access to artemisinin combination therapy: the Cambodian experience, Malaria Journal. Retrieved 21 February 2012". Malaria Journal. 7 (1): 84. doi:10.1186/1475-2875-7-84. PMC 2413253. PMID 18492245.
  74. ^ . Archived from the original on 10 March 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  75. ^ . Archived from the original on 19 November 2007.
  76. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  77. ^ "MSF International Activity Report (2006). Retrieved 21 February 2012". Archived from the original on 14 April 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  78. ^ "IRIN report (2010) In Brief: TB, HIV warning for Cambodia's prisons. Retrieved 21 February 2012". October 2010.
  79. ^ "LICAHDO Press Release (2011) Cambodian Prison Overcrowding Crisis Only Getting Worse. Retrieved 21 February 2012".
  80. ^ "Janssens, B., et al. (2007) Effectiveness of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy in HIV-Positive Children: Evaluation at 12 Months in a Routine Program in Cambodia. Retrieved 21 February 2012".
  81. ^ MSF article (2007) Cambodia: Number of dengue cases drop in Takeo; threat remains. Retrieved 21 February 2012 Archived 14 April 2013 at archive.today.
  82. ^ "Mail and Guardian News Report (2008) Cambodia: 407 died from dengue fever in 2007. Retrieved 21 February 2012". 4 January 2008.
  83. ^ "MSF International Activity Report (2010). Retrieved 21 February 2012". Archived from the original on 14 April 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  84. ^ "MSF Field News (2011) Cambodia: TB is "One of the Biggest Challenges for Public Health". Retrieved 21 February 2012". Archived from the original on 14 April 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  85. ^ . Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  86. ^ "Search and Rescue – MSF".
  87. ^ "Hindrance of humanitarian assistance will create a deadly gap in the Mediterranean Sea".
  88. ^ "Aquarius forced to end operations as Europe condemns people to drown". Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  89. ^ a b June 2021 Update – Search and Rescue (SAR) operations in the Mediterranean and fundamental rights 18 June 2021, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, fra.europa.eu, accessed 20 June 2021
  90. ^ MSF returns to saving lives at sea in central Mediterranean 13 May 2021 www.msf.org, accessed 20 June 2021
  91. ^ Hundreds of migrants rescued by MSF charity land in Sicily 18 June 2021 Reuters/ uk.news.yahoo.com, accessed 20 June 2021
  92. ^ a b "Yemen: Staff and patients killed after airstrike hits Abs Hospital". 15 August 2016.
  93. ^ "Yemen". 11 September 2016.
  94. ^ (in Dutch). RTL Nieuws. 11 September 2022. Archived from the original on 13 September 2022.
  95. ^ Field Operations: What Do We Do? 16 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  96. ^ MSF Article (2003) The Vaccine Gap: NY Times editorial 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  97. ^ MSF Press Release (2003) MSF launches the first large-scale test of an oral vaccine against cholera in the city of Beira, Mozambique 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  98. ^ MSF Article (2004) World AIDS Day MSF country profiles 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  99. ^ MSF Article (2004) Once ill equipped and poorly manned – transforming a hospital in North Darfur 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  100. ^ MSF Article (2001) Tajikistan: Aid to health system in shambles 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  101. ^ MSF Article (2004) Nicaragua: Focusing care on women's health and Chagas disease 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  102. ^ MSF Article (2002) MSF mental health activities: a brief overview 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  103. ^ "Lebanon | MSF". Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  104. ^ Feldman, Ilana (2018). Life lived in relief : humanitarian predicaments and Palestinian refugee politics. Oakland, California. ISBN 978-0-520-97128-8. OCLC 1043049820.
  105. ^ MSF Article (2000) Preventing malnutrition and famine 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  106. ^ MSF Article (2001) Malnutrition definition and MSF treatment 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  107. ^ MSF Article (2001) MSF Therapeutic Feeding Programmes 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  108. ^ Drugs and Medical Supplies Catalogue Vol. 1 (2005) F-75 Description MSF.
  109. ^ Drugs and Medical Supplies Catalogue Vol. 1 (2005) F-100 Description MSF.
  110. ^ Drugs and Medical Supplies Catalogue Vol. 1 (2005) Plumpy'nut Description MSF.
  111. ^ Drugs and Medical Supplies Catalogue Vol. 1 (2005) BP5 Description MSF.
  112. ^ MSF Article (2001) Diarrhoea definition and MSF treatment 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  113. ^ MSF Article (2001) MSF: Water and Health 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  114. ^ MSF Article (2002) MSF-UAE. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  115. ^ MSF Article (2001) Cholera definition and MSF treatment 29 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  116. ^ MSF Article (2002) MSF-UAE. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  117. ^ MSF Article (2002) MSF-UAE. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  118. ^ MSF Article (2002) Malnutrition: rates and measures 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  119. ^ MSF Article (2002) Mortality: rates and measures 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  120. ^ WHO Fact Sheet Meningococcal meningitis WHO. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  121. ^ MSF Article Mental health care crucial in emergency situations 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  122. ^ MSF Article A scientific approach to "témoignage" 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 28 December 2005.
  123. ^ Prunier, Gérard (2005). Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide. Cornell University Press. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-8014-4450-0.
  124. ^ Editorial (2009). "PLoS Medicine: Ethics Without Borders". PLOS Medicine. www.plosmedicine.org. 6 (7): e1000119. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000119. PMC 2708348. PMID 19636357.
  125. ^ Rennie, Stuart. "Global bioethics blog: Ethics, research and Medecins Sans Frontieres". globalbioethics.blogspot.com. Retrieved 11 August 2009.
  126. ^ "SES Joins the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)" (Press release). SES. 14 September 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  127. ^ "MSF International Presidents". www.doctorswithoutborders.ca. 22 September 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  128. ^ "2020 in figures | MSF". Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  129. ^ "Who We Are?".
  130. ^ WHO Health topic
  131. ^ . Web1.doctorswithoutborders.org. 20 December 2006. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  132. ^ "Novartis loses landmark India cancer drug patent case". Reuters. 1 April 2013. from the original on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  133. ^ UCL (20 October 2020). "Els Torreele". UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  134. ^ "Our Wishlist for 2022". Médecins Sans Frontières Access Campaign. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  135. ^ MSF Article (2004) Independent aid in Iraq virtually impossible 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 12 January 2006.
  136. ^ MSF Article (2004) The real reasons MSF left Afghanistan 28 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 12 January 2006.
  137. ^ MSF Article (2004) MSF pulls out of Afghanistan 16 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 17 January 2006.
  138. ^ MSF Press Release. . www.msf.org. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2009.
  139. ^ MSF Press Release. . www.msf.org. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2009.
  140. ^ MSF Article (2005) MSF shocked by arrest of Head of Mission in Sudan – charged with crimes against the state 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine MSF. Retrieved 11 January 2006.
  141. ^ Karunakara, Unni. "Why MSF decided to leave Somalia". Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  142. ^ Christopher Stokes (4 October 2015). "Death toll rises" (Press release). Médecins Sans Frontières.
  143. ^ Shear, Michael D.; Sengupta, Somini (7 October 2015). "Obama Issues Rare Apology Over Bombing of Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Afghanistan". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  144. ^ Kheel, Rebecca (8 October 2015). "Doctors Without Borders not mollified by Obama apology". TheHill. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  145. ^ "Airstrikes hit Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Yemen ". The Guardian. 27 October 2015.
  146. ^ "Syria: Barrel bombing of MSF-supported hospital kills seven". Msf.org.uk. December 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  147. ^ "MSF-supported hospital bombed in Yemen: death toll rises to six". Médecins Sans Frontières. 17 January 2016
  148. ^ "Syrian war: Suspected Russian air strikes destroy two hospitals – despite so-called Syria 'ceasefire'". The Independent UK. 15 February 2016
  149. ^ "MSF-supported hospital bombed by Russian Air Force in Northern Syria". The UK Guardian. 15 February 2016
  150. ^ CBS/AP February 16, 2016, 8:23 AM (16 February 2016). "U.S. and Russia both deny bombing Syrian clinic". Cbsnews.com. Retrieved 6 July 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  151. ^ Kareem Shaheen in Beirut; Ian Black (28 April 2016). "Airstrike on MSF-backed Aleppo hospital kills patients and doctors". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  152. ^ "Kabul Hospital Attack: "They came to kill the mothers"". Médecins Sans Frontières. 15 May 2020.
  153. ^ "Three MSF employees killed in Ethiopia's Tigray, aid agency says". Reuters. 25 June 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  154. ^ Abrams, Irwin (2001). The Nobel Peace Prize and the laureates: An illustrated biographical history, 1901–2001. Nantucket, Massachusetts: Science History Publications. pp. 351–352.
  155. ^ MSF Article (1999). "The Nobel Peace Prize speech". www.msf.org. MSF. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  156. ^ . Jornada.unam.mx. 8 September 2015. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  157. ^ Arie, Sophie (25 June 2018). "Médecins Sans Frontières is focus of new sex scandal in charity sector". BMJ. 361: k2788. doi:10.1136/bmj.k2788. ISSN 0959-8138. PMID 29941460. S2CID 49407281.
  158. ^ "MSF dealt with 24 cases of sex abuse in 2017 – DW – 02/14/2018". dw.com. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  159. ^ "Doctors Without Borders fired 19 people for sexual abuse last year". Reuters. 14 February 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  160. ^ "Feelings running high at 'Eurocentric' MSF". The New Humanitarian. 24 June 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  161. ^ "Médecins Sans Frontières is 'institutionally racist', say 1,000 insiders". The Guardian. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  162. ^ "MSF apologises after BBC reports 'widespread' sexual misconduct issues". www.civilsociety.co.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  163. ^ "Medecins Sans Frontieres staff 'used local prostitutes'". BBC News. 20 June 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  164. ^ Kardas-Nelson, Sean Campbell, Mara. "Doctors Without Borders saves lives every day. Some insiders say it is also a racist workplace where nonwhite workers get worse pay, less security, and inferior medical care". Business Insider. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  165. ^ "Médecins Sans Frontières pulls images of teenage rape survivor after outcry | Safeguarding Resource and Support Hub". safeguardingsupporthub.org. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  166. ^ "Médecins Sans Frontières condemned for 'profiting from exploitative images'". The Guardian. 25 May 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  167. ^ "Médecins Sans Frontières apologises for using images of child rape survivor". The Guardian. 26 May 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  168. ^ "BlackRock's COVID-19 Response". BlackRock. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  169. ^ "Mission impossible - humanitarianism is neutral or it is nothing | MSF". Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  170. ^ "'Gut punch': MSF staff wounded by decision to accept Blackrock donation". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 11 December 2022.

Further reading

  • Bortolotti, D. (2004). "Hope in Hell: Inside the World of Doctors Without Borders". Firefly Books. Buffalo, N.Y. 97 (11): 1575–1577. ISBN 978-1-55297-865-8. PMC 2594913.
  • Katz IT, Wright AA (2004). "Collateral Damage – Médecins sans Frontières Leaves Afghanistan and Iraq". The New England Journal of Medicine. 351 (25): 2571–2573. doi:10.1056/NEJMp048296. PMID 15602015. (registration required)
  • McCall M, Salama P (1 September 1999). "Selection, training, and support of relief workers: an occupational health issue". British Medical Journal. 318 (7176): 113–116. doi:10.1136/bmj.318.7176.113. PMC 1114577. PMID 9880288.
  • Shevchenko O, Fox RC (2008). . Health and Human Rights. 10 (1): 109–122. doi:10.2307/20460093. JSTOR 20460093. PMID 20845834. Archived from the original on 23 January 2009. Retrieved 17 August 2009.
  • Weber, Oliver (1995). French Doctors. Robert Laffont.
  • Weber, Oliver (2002). Humanitaires. Félin.
  • Zwi, A.B. (2004). "How Should the Health Community Respond to Violent Political Conflict?". PLOS Medicine. 1 (1): e14. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0010014. PMC 523835. PMID 15526042.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Médecins sans frontières.
  • Official website  

March 20, 2023
médecins, sans, frontières, confused, with, médecins, monde, which, formed, part, members, entirely, independent, governmental, organisation, with, links, today, major, contributor, this, article, appears, have, close, connection, with, subject, relevant, disc. Not to be confused with Medecins du Monde which was formed in part by members of MSF but is an entirely independent non governmental organisation with no links to MSF today A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view Please discuss further on the talk page December 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Medecins Sans Frontieres MSF pronounced medsɛ sɑ fʁɔ tjɛʁ listen also known as Doctors Without Borders is a charity that provides humanitarian medical care It is a non governmental organisation NGO of French origin known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases 1 The organisation provides care for diabetes drug resistant infections HIV AIDS hepatitis C tropical and neglected diseases tuberculosis vaccines and COVID 19 In 2019 the charity was active in 70 countries with over 35 000 personnel mostly local doctors nurses and other medical professionals logistical experts water and sanitation engineers and administrators 1 Private donors provide about 90 of the organisation s funding while corporate donations provide the rest giving MSF an annual budget of approximately US 1 63 billion 2 Medecins Sans FrontieresFounded22 December 1971 51 years ago 1971 12 22 Founded atParisTypeInternational NGOFocusHumanitarian AidHeadquartersGlobal GenevaOperational Centres Amsterdam OCA Barcelona Athens OCBA Brussels OCB Paris OCP Geneva OCG Area servedWorldwideInternational PresidentChristos ChristouMain organInternational General AssemblyRevenue 2020 1 9 billionEmployees45 375Websitewww wbr msf wbr org source source source source source source source source source source source source source source Introduction of Medecins Sans Frontieres MSF was founded in 1971 in the aftermath of the Biafran famine of the Nigerian Civil War by a small group of French doctors and journalists who sought to expand accessibility to medical care across national boundaries and irrespective of race religion creed or political affiliation 3 MSF s principles and operational guidelines are highlighted in its Charter 4 the Chantilly Principles and the later La Mancha Agreement 5 Governance is addressed in Section 2 of the Rules portion of this final document MSF has an associative rather chaotic structure where operational decisions are made independently by the five operational centres Amsterdam Barcelona Athens Brussels Geneva and Paris Common policies on core issues are coordinated by the International Council in which each of the 24 sections national offices is represented The International Council meets in Geneva Switzerland where the International Office which coordinates international activities common to the operational centres is based MSF has general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council It received the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its members continued efforts to provide medical care in acute crises as well as raising international awareness of potential humanitarian disasters 6 James Orbinski who was the president of the organisation at the time accepted the prize on behalf of MSF Prior to this MSF also received the 1996 Seoul Peace Prize 7 Christos Christou succeeded Joanne Liu as international president in June 2019 8 Contents 1 History 1 1 1967 to 1970 Biafra 1 2 1971 establishment 1 2 1 Original founders 1 3 1970s 1 4 1980s 1 5 1990s 1 5 1 1994 Rwandan Genocide 1 6 2020s 1 6 1 2020 accusations of racism 1 6 2 Response to political changes 2 Activities by location 2 1 Sub Saharan Africa 2 1 1 Sierra Leone 2 1 2 Sudan 2 1 2 1 Kala Azar in Sudan 2 1 2 2 Health care infrastructure in Sudan 2 1 3 Democratic Republic of the Congo 2 1 4 Uganda 2 1 5 Ivory Coast 2 1 5 1 West African Ebola outbreak 2 1 5 2 Burundi 2 2 Asia 2 2 1 Sri Lanka 2 2 2 Cambodia 2 3 Middle East and North Africa 2 3 1 Libya 2 3 2 Search and Rescue in the Mediterranean Sea 2 3 3 Yemen 2 4 Europe 2 4 1 The Netherlands 3 Organisation of activities 3 1 Field mission team 3 2 Medical component 3 3 Nutrition 3 4 Water and sanitation 3 5 Statistics 3 6 Innovation and use of Technology 4 Governance and structure 5 In house organisations 5 1 Epicentre 5 2 Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines 6 Security risks to staff 7 Awards 7 1 1999 Nobel Peace Prize 7 2 Lasker Prize 8 Namesakes 9 Controversies 10 See also 10 1 Non fiction work about MSF 10 2 Relevant topics 11 References 12 Further reading 13 External linksHistory Edit1967 to 1970 Biafra Edit A child with kwashiorkor during the Nigerian Civil War During the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970 the Nigerian military formed a blockade around the nation s newly independent south eastern region Biafra At this time France was one of the few major countries supportive of the Biafrans the United Kingdom the Soviet Union and the United States sided with the Nigerian government and the conditions within the blockade were unknown to the world A number of French doctors volunteered with the French Red Cross to work in hospitals and feeding centers in besieged Biafra 3 One of the co founders of the organisation was Bernard Kouchner who later became a high ranking French politician After entering the country the volunteers in addition to Biafran health workers and hospitals were subjected to attacks by the Nigerian army and witnessed civilians being murdered and starved by the blockading forces The doctors publicly criticised the Nigerian government and the Red Cross for their seemingly complicit behaviour These doctors concluded that a new aid organisation was needed that would ignore political religious boundaries and prioritise the welfare of survivors 3 Apart from Nigeria MSF exists in several African countries including Benin Zambia Uganda Kenya South Africa Rwanda Sudan Sierra Leone etc 1971 establishment Edit The Groupe d intervention medicale et chirurgicale en urgence Emergency Medical and Surgical Intervention Group was formed in 1971 by French doctors who had worked in Biafra to provide aid and to emphasize the importance of survivors rights At the same time Raymond Borel the editor of the French medical journal TONUS had started a group called Secours Medical Francais French Medical Relief in response to the 1970 Bhola cyclone which killed at least 625 000 in East Pakistan now Bangladesh Borel had intended to recruit doctors to provide aid to survivors of natural disasters On 22 December 1971 the two groups of colleagues merged to form Medecins Sans Frontieres 9 MSF s first mission was to the Nicaraguan capital Managua where a 1972 earthquake had destroyed most of the city and killed between 10 000 and 30 000 people 10 The organisation today known for its quick response in an emergency arrived three days after the Red Cross had set up a relief mission On 18 and 19 September 1974 Hurricane Fifi caused major flooding in Honduras and killed thousands of people estimates vary and MSF set up its first long term medical relief mission 11 Between 1975 and 1979 after South Vietnam had fallen to North Vietnam millions of Cambodians immigrated to Thailand to avoid the Khmer Rouge 12 In response MSF set up its first refugee camp missions in Thailand 9 When Vietnam withdrew from Cambodia in 1989 MSF started long term relief missions to help survivors of the mass killings and reconstruct the country s health care system 13 Although its missions to Thailand to help victims of war in Southeast Asia could arguably be seen as its first wartime mission MSF saw its first mission to a true war zone including exposure to hostile fire in 1976 MSF spent nine years 1976 1984 assisting surgeries in the hospitals of various cities in Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War and established a reputation for its neutrality and willingness to work under fire Throughout the war MSF helped both Christian and Muslim soldiers alike helping whichever group required the most medical aid at the time In 1984 as the situation in Lebanon deteriorated further and security for aid groups was minimised MSF withdrew its volunteers Original founders Edit Jacques Beres Philippe Bernier Raymond Borel Jean Cabrol Marcel Delcourt Xavier Emmanuelli Pascal Grellety Bosviel Gerard Illiouz Bernard Kouchner Gerard Pigeon Vladan Radoman Max Recamier1970s Edit Claude Malhuret was elected as the new president of Medecins Sans Frontieres in 1977 and soon after debates began over the future of the organisation In particular the concept of temoignage witnessing which refers to speaking out about the suffering that one sees as opposed to remaining silent 14 was being opposed or played down by Malhuret and his supporters Malhuret thought MSF should avoid criticism of the governments of countries in which they were working while Kouchner believed that documenting and broadcasting the suffering in a country was the most effective way to solve a problem In 1979 after four years of refugee movement from South Vietnam and the surrounding countries by foot and by boat French intellectuals made an appeal in Le Monde for A Boat for Vietnam a project intended to provide medical aid to the refugees Although the project did not receive support from the majority of MSF some including later Minister Bernard Kouchner chartered a ship called L Ile de Lumiere The Island of Light and along with doctors journalists and photographers sailed to the South China Sea and provided some medical aid to the boat people The splinter organisation that undertook this Medecins du Monde later developed the idea of humanitarian intervention as a duty in particular on the part of Western nations such as France 15 In 2007 MSF clarified that for nearly 30 years MSF and Kouchner have had public disagreements on such issues as the right to intervene and the use of armed force for humanitarian reasons Kouchner is in favour of the latter whereas MSF stands up for an impartial humanitarian action independent from all political economic and religious powers 16 1980s Edit In 1982 Malhuret and Rony Brauman who became the organisation s president in 1982 brought increased financial independence to MSF by introducing fundraising by mail to better collect donations The 1980s also saw the establishment of the other operational sections from MSF France 1971 MSF Belgium 1980 MSF Switzerland 1981 MSF Holland 1984 and MSF Spain 1986 MSF Luxembourg was the first support section created in 1986 The early 1990s saw the establishment of the majority of the support sections MSF Greece 1990 MSF USA 1990 MSF Canada 1991 MSF Japan 1992 MSF UK 1993 MSF Italy 1993 MSF Australia 1994 as well as Germany Austria Denmark Sweden Norway and Hong Kong MSF UAE was formed later 9 17 Malhuret and Brauman were instrumental in professionalising MSF In December 1979 after the Soviet army had invaded Afghanistan field missions were immediately set up to provide medical aid to the mujahideen and in February 1980 MSF publicly denounced the Khmer Rouge During the 1983 1985 famine in Ethiopia MSF set up nutrition programmes in the country in 1984 but was expelled in 1985 after denouncing the abuse of international aid and the forced resettlements MSF s explicit attacks on the Ethiopian government led to other NGOs criticizing their abandonment of their supposed neutrality and contributed to a series of debates in France around humanitarian ethics 18 19 The group also set up equipment to produce clean drinking water for the population of San Salvador capital of El Salvador after 10 October 1986 earthquake that struck the city 9 20 1990s Edit The early 1990s saw MSF open a number of new national sections and at the same time set up field missions in some of the most dangerous and distressing situations it had ever encountered In 1990 MSF first entered Liberia to help civilians and refugees affected by the Liberian Civil War 21 Constant fighting throughout the 1990s and the Second Liberian Civil War have kept MSF volunteers actively providing nutrition basic health care and mass vaccinations and speaking out against attacks on hospitals and feeding stations especially in Monrovia 22 Field missions were set up to provide relief to Kurdish refugees who had survived the al Anfal Campaign for which evidence of atrocities was being collected in 1991 23 1991 also saw the beginning of the civil war in Somalia during which MSF set up field missions in 1992 alongside a UN peacekeeping mission Although the UN aborted operations by 1993 MSF representatives continued with their relief work running clinics and hospitals for civilians 24 MSF first began work in Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of a UN convoy in 1993 one year after the Bosnian War had begun The city had become surrounded by the Bosnian Serb Army and containing about 60 000 Bosniaks had become an enclave guarded by a United Nations Protection Force MSF was the only organisation providing medical care to the surrounded civilians and as such did not denounce the genocide for fear of being expelled from the country it did however denounce the lack of access for other organisations MSF was forced to leave the area in 1995 when the Bosnian Serb Army captured the town 40 000 Bosniak civilian inhabitants were deported and approximately 7 000 were killed in mass executions 25 1994 Rwandan Genocide Edit When the genocide in Rwanda began in April 1994 some delegates of MSF working in the country were incorporated into the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC medical team for protection Both groups succeeded in keeping all main hospitals in Rwanda s capital Kigali operational throughout the main period of the genocide MSF together with several other aid organisations had to leave the country in 1995 although many MSF and ICRC volunteers worked together under the ICRC s rules of engagement which held that neutrality was of the utmost importance These events led to a debate within the organisation about the concept of balancing neutrality of humanitarian aid workers against their witnessing role As a result of its Rwanda mission the position of MSF with respect to neutrality moved closer to that of the ICRC a remarkable development in the light of the origin of the organisation 26 Aerial photograph of a Mihanda Zaire refugee camp in 1996 Pictured are 500 tents set up in the Mitumba Mountains The ICRC lost 56 and MSF lost almost one hundred of their respective local staff in Rwanda and MSF France which had chosen to evacuate its team from the country the local staff were forced to stay denounced the murders and demanded that a French military intervention stop the genocide MSF France introduced the slogan One cannot stop a genocide with doctors to the media and the controversial Operation Turquoise followed less than one month later 9 This intervention directly or indirectly resulted in movements of hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees to Zaire and Tanzania in what became known as the Great Lakes refugee crisis and subsequent cholera epidemics starvation and more mass killings in the large groups of civilians MSF France returned to the area and provided medical aid to refugees in Goma 27 At the time of the genocide competition between the medical efforts of MSF the ICRC and other aid groups had reached an all time high 28 but the conditions in Rwanda prompted a drastic change in the way humanitarian organisations approached aid missions The Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief Programmes was created by the ICRC in 1994 to provide a framework for humanitarian missions and MSF is a signatory of this code 29 The code advocates the provision of humanitarian aid only and groups are urged not to serve any political or religious interest or be used as a tool for foreign governments 30 MSF has since still found it necessary to condemn the actions of governments such as in Chechnya in 1999 31 but has not demanded another military intervention since then 9 2020s Edit 2020 accusations of racism Edit More than a thousand staffers accused the charity of white supremacy when they voiced their concerns in a 2020 petition One staffer from Cameroon detailed her experiences with racism from the group s leaders Many concerns involved different treatment of expatriate staff from Europe and North America who are typically white compared to national staff In an interview with NPR the president of the organisation acknowledged Doctors Without Borders was founded in racism and pledged to do better 32 Response to political changes Edit MSF issued a statement for safe abortion following Dobbs v Jackson Women s Health Organization 33 Activities by location Edit Countries where MSF had missions in 2015 In 1999 the organisation spoke out about the lack of humanitarian support in Kosovo and Chechnya having set up field missions to help civilians affected by the respective political situations Although MSF had worked in the Kosovo region since 1993 the onset of the Kosovo War prompted the movement of tens of thousands of refugees and a decline in suitable living conditions MSF provided shelter water and health care to civilians affected by NATO s strategic bombing campaigns 34 A serious crisis within MSF erupted in connection with the organisation s work in Kosovo when the Greek section of MSF was expelled from the organisation The Greek MSF section had gained access to Serbia at the cost of accepting Serb government imposed limits on where it could go and what it could see terms that the rest of the MSF movement had refused 35 A non MSF source alleged that the exclusion of the Greek section happened because its members extended aid to both Albanian and Serbian civilians in Pristina during NATO s bombing 36 The rift was healed only in 2005 with the re admission of the Greek section to MSF A similar situation was found in Chechnya whose civilian population was largely forced from their homes into unhealthy conditions and subjected to the violence of the Second Chechen War 37 MSF has been working in Haiti since 1991 but since President Jean Bertrand Aristide was forced from power the country has seen a large increase in civilian attacks and rape by armed groups In addition to providing surgical and psychological support in existing hospitals offering the only free surgery available in Port au Prince field missions have been set up to rebuild water and waste management systems and treat survivors of major flooding caused by Hurricane Jeanne patients with HIV AIDS and malaria both of which are widespread in the country also receive better treatment and monitoring 38 As a result of 12 January 2010 Haiti earthquake reports from Haiti indicated that all three of the organisation s hospitals had been severely damaged one collapsing completely and the other two having to be abandoned 39 Following the quake MSF sent about nine planes loaded with medical equipment and a field hospital to help treat the victims However the landings of some of the planes had to be delayed due to the massive number of humanitarian and military flights coming in 40 The Kashmir Conflict in northern India resulted in a more recent MSF intervention the first field mission was set up in 1999 to help civilians displaced by fighting in Jammu and Kashmir as well as in Manipur Psychological support is a major target of missions but teams have also set up programmes to treat tuberculosis HIV AIDS and malaria 41 Mental health support has been of significant importance for MSF in much of southern Asia since the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake 42 MSF went through a long process of self examination and discussion in 2005 2006 Many issues were debated including the treatment of nationals as well as fair employment and self criticism 43 Sub Saharan Africa Edit An MSF outpost in Darfur 2005 MSF has been active in a large number of African countries for decades sometimes serving as the sole provider of health care food and water Although MSF has consistently attempted to increase media coverage of the situation in Africa to increase international support long term field missions are still necessary Treating and educating the public about HIV AIDS in sub Saharan Africa which sees the most deaths and cases of the disease in the world 44 is a major task for volunteers Of the 14 6 million people in need of anti retroviral treatment the WHO estimated that only 5 25 million people were receiving it in developing countries and MSF continues to urge governments and companies to increase research and development into HIV AIDS treatments to decrease cost and increase availability 45 See AIDS in Africa for more information Sierra Leone Edit In the late 1990s MSF missions were set up to treat tuberculosis and anaemia in residents of the Aral Sea area and look after civilians affected by drug resistant disease famine and epidemics of cholera and AIDS 46 They vaccinated 3 million Nigerians against meningitis during an epidemic in 1996 47 and denounced the Taliban s neglect of health care for women in 1997 48 Arguably the most significant country in which MSF set up field missions in the late 1990s was Sierra Leone which was involved in a civil war at the time In 1998 volunteers began assisting in surgeries in Freetown to help with an increasing number of amputees and collecting statistics on civilians men women and children being attacked by large groups of men claiming to represent ECOMOG The groups of men were travelling between villages and systematically chopping off one or both of each resident s arms raping women gunning down families razing houses and forcing survivors to leave the area 49 Long term projects following the end of the civil war included psychological support and phantom limb pain management 50 Sudan Edit Since 1979 MSF has been providing medical humanitarian assistance in Sudan a nation plagued by starvation and the civil war prevalent malnutrition and one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world In March 2009 it is reported that MSF has employed 4 590 field staff in Sudan 51 tackling issues such as armed conflicts epidemic diseases health care and social exclusion MSF s continued presence and work in Sudan is one of the organisation s largest interventions MSF provides a range of health care services including nutritional support reproductive healthcare Kala Azar treatment counselling services and surgery to the people living in Sudan 52 Common diseases prevalent in Sudan include tuberculosis kala azar also known as visceral leishmaniasis meningitis measles cholera and malaria Kala Azar in Sudan Edit Kala azar also known as visceral leishmaniasis has been one of the major health problems in Sudan After the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between North and Southern Sudan on 9 January 2005 the increase in stability within the region helped further efforts in healthcare delivery Medicins Sans Frontieres tested a combination of sodium stibogluconate and paromomycin which would reduce treatment duration from 30 to 17 days and cost in 2008 53 In March 2010 MSF set up its first Kala Azar treatment centre in Eastern Sudan providing free treatment for this otherwise deadly disease If left untreated there is a fatality rate of 99 within 1 4 months of infection 54 Since the treatment centre was set up MSF has cured more than 27 000 Kala Azar patients with a success rate of approximately 90 95 55 There are plans to open an additional Kala Azar treatment centre in Malakal Southern Sudan to cope with the overwhelming number of patients that are seeking treatment MSF has been providing necessary medical supplies to hospitals and training Sudanese health professionals to help them deal with Kala Azar 56 MSF Sudanese Ministry of Health and other national and international institutions are combining efforts to improve on the treatment and diagnosis of Kala Azar 57 Research on its cures and vaccines are currently being conducted 57 In December 2010 South Sudan was hit with the worst outbreak of Kala Azar in eight years 51 The number of patients seeking treatment increased eight fold as compared to the year before 51 Health care infrastructure in Sudan Edit Sudan s latest civil war began in 1983 and ended in 2005 when a peace agreement was signed between North Sudan and South Sudan 51 MSF medical teams were active throughout and prior to the civil war providing emergency medical humanitarian assistance in multiple locations 51 The situation of poor infrastructure in the South was aggravated by the civil war and resulted in the worsening of the region s appalling health indicators An estimated 75 percent of people in the nascent nation has no access to basic medical care and 1 in seven women dies during childbirth 51 Malnutrition and disease outbreaks are perennial concerns as well In 2011 MSF clinic in Jonglei State South Sudan was looted and attacked by raiders 58 Hundreds including women and children were killed Valuable items including medical equipment and drugs were lost during the raid and parts of the MSF facilities were destroyed in a fire 58 The incident had serious repercussions as MSF is the only primary health care provider in this part of Jonglei State 58 Democratic Republic of the Congo Edit Although active in the Congo region of Africa since 1985 the First and Second Congo War brought increased violence and instability to the area MSF has had to evacuate its teams from areas such as around Bunia in the Ituri district due to extreme violence 59 but continues to work in other areas to provide food to tens of thousands of displaced civilians as well as treat survivors of mass rapes and widespread fighting 60 The treatment and possible vaccination against diseases such as cholera measles polio Marburg fever sleeping sickness 61 HIV AIDS and bubonic plague is also important to prevent or slow down epidemics 62 Uganda Edit MSF has been active in Uganda since 1980 and provided relief to civilians during the country s guerrilla war during the Second Obote Period However the formation of the Lord s Resistance Army saw the beginning of a long campaign of violence in northern Uganda and southern Sudan Civilians were subjected to mass killings and rapes torture and abductions of children who would later serve as sex slaves or child soldiers Faced with more than 1 5 million people displaced from their homes MSF set up relief programmes in internally displaced person IDP camps to provide clean water food and sanitation Diseases such as tuberculosis measles polio cholera ebola and HIV AIDS occur in epidemics in the country and volunteers provide vaccinations in the cases of measles and polio and or treatment to the residents Mental health is also an important aspect of medical treatment for MSF teams in Uganda since most people refuse to leave the IDP camps for constant fear of being attacked 63 64 Ivory Coast Edit MSF first camp set up a field mission in Cote d Ivoire in 1990 but ongoing violence and the 2002 division of the country by rebel groups and the government led to several massacres and MSF teams have even begun to suspect that an ethnic cleansing is occurring 65 Mass measles vaccinations 66 tuberculosis treatment and the re opening of hospitals closed by fighting are projects run by MSF which is the only group providing aid in much of the country 65 MSF has strongly promoted the use of contraception in Africa West African Ebola outbreak Edit A Medecins Sans Frontieres staff member adjusts Dr Joel Montgomery Team Lead for CDC s Ebola Response Team in Liberia goggles before Montgomery enters the Ebola treatment unit ETU ELWA 3 MSF operates the ELWA 3 ETU which opened on August 17 During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014 MSF met serious medical demands largely on its own after the organisation s early warnings were largely ignored 67 Burundi Edit MSF Burundi has aided in attending to casualties suffered in the 2019 Burundi landslides 68 Asia Edit Sri Lanka Edit MSF is involved in Sri Lanka where a 26 year civil war ended in 2009 and MSF has adapted its activities there to continue its mission For example it helps with physical therapy for patients with spinal cord injuries 69 It conducts counseling sessions and has set up an operating theatre for reconstructive orthopaedic surgery and supplied specialist surgeons anaesthetists and nurses to operate on patients with complicated war related injuries 70 Cambodia Edit MSF first provided medical help to civilians and refugees who have escaped to camps along the Thai Cambodian border in 1979 Due to long decades of war a proper health care system in the country was severely lacking and MSF moved inland in 1989 to help restructure basic medical facilities In 1999 Cambodia was hit with a malaria epidemic The situation of the epidemic was aggravated by a lack of qualified practitioners and poor quality control which led to a market of fake antimalarial drugs Counterfeit antimalarial drugs were responsible for the deaths of at least 30 people during the epidemic 71 This has prompted efforts by MSF to set up and fund a malaria outreach project and utilise Village Malaria Workers 72 MSF also introduced a switching of first line treatment to a combination therapy Artesunate and Mefloquine to combat resistance and fatality of old drugs that were used to treat the disease traditionally 73 Cambodia is one of the hardest hit HIV AIDS countries in Southeast Asia In 2001 MSF started introducing antiretroviral ARV therapy to AIDS patients for free This therapy prolongs the patients lives and is a long term treatment 74 In 2002 MSF established chronic diseases clinics with the Cambodian Ministry of Health in various provinces to integrate HIV AIDS treatment alongside hypertension diabetes and arthritis which have high prevalence rate This aims to reduce facility related stigma as patients are able to seek treatment in a multi purpose clinic in contrast to a HIV AIDS specialised treatment centre 75 MSF also provided humanitarian aid in times of natural disaster such as a major flood in 2002 which affected up to 1 47 million people 76 MSF introduced a community based tuberculosis programme in 2004 in remote villages where village volunteers are delegated to facilitate the medication of patients In partnership with local health authorities and other NGOs MSF encouraged decentralized clinics and rendered localized treatments to more rural areas from 2006 77 Since 2007 MSF has extended general health care counselling HIV AIDS and TB treatment to prisons in Phnom Penh via mobile clinics 78 However poor sanitation and lack of health care still prevails in most Cambodian prisons as they remain as some of the world s most crowded prisons 79 In 2007 MSF worked with the Cambodian Ministry of Health to provide psychosocial and technical support in offering pediatric HIV AIDS treatment to affected children 80 MSF also provided medical supplies and staff to help in one of the worst dengue outbreaks in 2007 81 which had more than 40 000 people hospitalized killing 407 people primarily children 82 In 2010 Southern and Eastern provinces of Cambodia were hit with a cholera epidemic and MSF responded by providing medical support that were adapted for usage in the country 83 Cambodia is one of 22 countries listed by WHO as having a high burden of tuberculosis WHO estimates that 64 of all Cambodians carry the tuberculosis mycobacterium Hence MSF has since shifted its focus away from HIV AIDS to tuberculosis handing over most HIV related programs to local health authorities 84 Middle East and North Africa Edit Libya Edit The 2011 Libyan civil war has prompted efforts by MSF to set up a hospital and mental health services to help locals affected by the conflict The fighting created a backlog of patients that needed surgery With parts of the country slowly returning to livable MSF has started working with local health personnel to address the needs The need for psychological counseling has increased and MSF has set up mental health services to address the fears and stress of people living in tents without water and electricity Currently MSF is the only International Aid organisation with actual presence in the country Search and Rescue in the Mediterranean Sea Edit MSF is providing Maritime Search And Rescue SAR services on the Mediterranean Sea to save the lives of migrants attempting to cross with unseaworthy boats The Mission started in 2015 after the EU ended its major SAR operation Mare Nostrum severely diminishing much needed SAR capacities in the Mediterranean 85 Throughout the mission MSF has operated its own vessels like the Bourbon Argos 2015 2016 Dignity 1 2015 2016 and VOS Prudence 2016 2017 MSF has also provided medical teams to support other NGOs and their ships like the MOAS Phoenix 2015 or the Aquarius 2017 2018 and Ocean Viking 2019 2020 with SOS Mediterranee 86 and Mediterranea Saving Humans In August 2017 MSF decided to suspend the activities of the VOS Prudence protesting restrictions and threats by the Libyan Coast Guard 87 In December 2018 MSF and SOS Mediterranee were forced to end operations of the Aquarius at that date the last remaining vessel supported by MSF This came after attacks by EU states that stripped the vessel of its registration and produced criminal accusations against MSF Up to then 80 000 people had been rescued or assisted since the beginning of the mission 88 Operations resumed with Ocean Viking in July 2019 but the ship was seized in Sicily in July 2020 89 In May 2021 MSF returned to refugee rescue operations in the Mediterranean with a new vessel the Geo Barents 90 89 Within a month this resulted in the rescue of some 400 people 91 Yemen EditMSF is involved in trying to help with the humanitarian crisis caused by the Yemeni Civil War The organisation operates eleven hospitals and health centres in Yemen and provides support to another 18 hospitals or health centres 92 According to MSF since October 2015 four of its hospitals and one ambulance have been destroyed by Saudi led coalition airstrikes 93 In August 2016 an airstrike on Abs hospital killed 19 people including one MSF staff member and wounded 24 92 According to MSF the GPS coordinates of the hospital were repeatedly shared with all parties to the conflict including the Saudi led coalition and its location was well known See also Airstrikes on hospitals in Yemen Europe Edit The Netherlands Edit In August and September 2022 MSF provided medical care to asylum seekers staying outside the overcrowded migration centre in Ter Apel the Netherlands 94 Organisation of activities EditBefore a field mission is established in a country an MSF team visits the area to determine the nature of the humanitarian emergency the level of safety in the area and what type of aid is needed this is called an exploratory mission Medical aid is the main objective of most missions although some missions help in such areas as water purification and nutrition 95 Field mission team Edit MSF logistician in Nigeria showing plans A field mission team usually consists of a small number of coordinators to head each component of a field mission and a head of mission The head of mission usually has the most experience in humanitarian situations of the members of the team and it is their job to deal with the media national governments and other humanitarian organisations The head of mission does not necessarily have a medical background Medical volunteers include physicians surgeons nurses and various other specialists In addition to operating the medical and nutrition components of the field mission these volunteers are sometimes in charge of a group of local medical staff and provide training for them Although the medical volunteers almost always receive the most media attention when the world becomes aware of an MSF field mission there are a number of non medical volunteers who help keep the field mission functioning Logisticians are responsible for providing everything that the medical component of a mission needs ranging from security and vehicle maintenance to food and electricity supplies They may be engineers and or foremen but they usually also help with setting up treatment centres and supervising local staff Other non medical staff are water sanitation specialists who are usually experienced engineers in the fields of water treatment and management and financial administration human resources experts who are placed with field missions Medical component Edit Doctors from MSF and the American CDC put on protective gear before entering an Ebola treatment ward in Liberia August 2014 Vaccination campaigns are a major part of the medical care provided during MSF missions Diseases such as diphtheria measles meningitis tetanus pertussis yellow fever polio and cholera all of which are uncommon in developed countries may be prevented with vaccination Some of these diseases such as cholera and measles spread rapidly in large populations living in close proximity such as in a refugee camp and people must be immunised by the hundreds or thousands in a short period of time 96 For example in Beira Mozambique in 2004 an experimental cholera vaccine was received twice by approximately 50 000 residents in about one month 97 An equally important part of the medical care provided during MSF missions is AIDS treatment with antiretroviral drugs AIDS testing and education MSF is the only source of treatment for many countries in Africa whose citizens make up the majority of people with HIV and AIDS worldwide 44 Because antiretroviral drugs ARVs are not readily available MSF usually provides treatment for opportunistic infections and educates the public on how to slow transmission of the disease 98 In most countries MSF increases the capabilities of local hospitals by improving sanitation providing equipment and drugs and training local hospital staff 99 When the local staff is overwhelmed MSF may open new specialised clinics for treatment of an endemic disease or surgery for victims of war International staff start these clinics but MSF strives to increase the local staff s ability to run the clinics themselves through training and supervision 100 In some countries like Nicaragua MSF provides public education to increase awareness of reproductive health care and venereal disease 101 Since most of the areas that require field missions have been affected by a natural disaster civil war or endemic disease the residents usually require psychological support as well Although the presence of an MSF medical team may decrease stress somewhat among survivors often a team of psychologists or psychiatrists help people who have depression survivors of domestic violence and those with substance use disorder The doctors may also train local mental health staff 102 Such cases include Palestinian refugee camps where long term displacement and geopolitical circumstances have left many residents without long term purpose or clear strategies for action Humanitarian actors like Medecins Sans Frontieres have sometimes responded by proferring coping skills to residents as a humanitarian aim and outcome In the late 2000s Medecins Sans Frontieres launched a mental health program in Burj al Barajneh camp in Lebanon providing sexual and reproductive health services mental health support and health promotion activities 103 104 Nutrition Edit Often in situations where an MSF mission is set up there is moderate or severe malnutrition as a result of war drought or government economic mismanagement Intentional starvation is also sometimes used during a war as a weapon and MSF in addition to providing food brings awareness to the situation and insists on foreign government intervention Infectious diseases and diarrhoea both of which cause weight loss and weakening of a person s body especially in children must be treated with medication and proper nutrition to prevent further infections and weight loss A combination of the above situations as when a civil war is fought during times of drought and infectious disease outbreaks can create famine 105 An MSF health worker examines a malnourished child in Ethiopia July 2011 In emergency situations where there is a lack of nutritious food but not to the level of a true famine protein energy malnutrition is most common among young children Marasmus a form of calorie deficiency is the most common form of childhood malnutrition and is characterised by severe wasting and often fatal weakening of the immune system Kwashiorkor a form of calorie and protein deficiency is a more serious type of malnutrition in young children and can negatively affect physical and mental development Both types of malnutrition can make opportunistic infections fatal 106 In these situations MSF sets up Therapeutic Feeding Centres for monitoring the children and any other malnourished individuals A Therapeutic Feeding Centre or Therapeutic Feeding Programme is designed to treat severe malnutrition through the gradual introduction of a special diet intended to promote weight gain after the individual has been treated for other health problems The treatment programme is split between two phases 107 Phase 1 lasts for 24 hours and involves basic health care and several small meals of low energy protein food spaced over the day Phase 2 involves monitoring of the patient and several small meals of high energy protein food spaced over each day until the individual s weight approaches normal MSF uses foods designed specifically for treatment of severe malnutrition During phase 1 a type of therapeutic milk called F 75 is fed to patients F 75 is a relatively low energy low fat protein milk powder that must be mixed with water and given to patients to prepare their bodies for phase 2 108 During phase 2 therapeutic milk called F 100 which is higher in energy fat protein content than F 75 is given to patients usually along with a peanut butter mixture called Plumpy nut F 100 and Plumpy nut are designed to quickly provide large amounts of nutrients so that patients can be treated efficiently 109 110 Other special food fed to populations in danger of starvation includes enriched flour and porridge as well as a high protein biscuit called BP5 BP5 is a popular food for treating populations because it can be distributed easily and sent home with individuals or it can be crushed and mixed with therapeutic milk for specific treatments 111 Dehydration sometimes due to diarrhoea or cholera may also be present in a population and MSF set up rehydration centres to combat this A special solution called Oral Rehydration Solution ORS which contains glucose and electrolytes is given to patients to replace fluids lost Antibiotics are also sometimes given to individuals with diarrhoea if it is known that they have cholera or dysentery 112 Water and sanitation Edit Clean water is essential for hygiene for consumption and for feeding programmes for mixing with powdered therapeutic milk or porridge as well as for preventing the spread of water borne disease 113 As such MSF water engineers and volunteers must create a source of clean water This is usually achieved by modifying an existing water well by digging a new well and or starting a water treatment project to obtain clean water for a population Water treatment in these situations may consist of storage sedimentation filtration and or chlorination depending on available resources 114 Sanitation is an essential part of field missions and it may include education of local medical staff in proper sterilisation techniques sewage treatment projects proper waste disposal and education of the population in personal hygiene Proper wastewater treatment and water sanitation are the best way to prevent the spread of serious water borne diseases such as cholera 115 Simple wastewater treatment systems can be set up by volunteers to protect drinking water from contamination 116 Garbage disposal could include pits for normal waste and incineration for medical waste 117 However the most important subject in sanitation is the education of the local population so that proper waste and water treatment can continue once MSF has left the area Statistics Edit In order to accurately report the conditions of a humanitarian emergency to the rest of the world and to governing bodies data on a number of factors are collected during each field mission The rate of malnutrition in children is used to determine the malnutrition rate in the population and then to determine the need for feeding centres 118 Various types of mortality rates are used to report the seriousness of a humanitarian emergency and a common method used to measure mortality in a population is to have staff constantly monitoring the number of burials at cemeteries 119 By compiling data on the frequency of diseases in hospitals MSF can track the occurrence and location of epidemic increases or seasons and stockpile vaccines and other drugs For example the Meningitis Belt sub Saharan Africa which sees the most cases of meningitis in the world has been mapped and the meningitis season occurs between December and June Shifts in the location of the Belt and the timing of the season can be predicted using cumulative data over many years 120 In addition to epidemiological surveys MSF also uses population surveys to determine the rates of violence in various regions By estimating the scopes of massacres and determining the rate of kidnappings rapes and killings psychosocial programmes can be implemented to lower the suicide rate and increase the sense of security in a population 121 Large scale forced migrations excessive civilian casualties and massacres can be quantified using surveys and MSF can use the results to put pressure on governments to provide help or even expose genocide 122 MSF conducted the first comprehensive mortality survey in Darfur in 2004 123 However there may be ethical problems in collecting these statistics 124 125 Innovation and use of Technology Edit In 2014 MSF partnered with satellite operator SES other NGOs Archemed Fondation Follereau Friendship Luxembourg and German Doctors and the Luxembourg government in the pilot phase of SATMED a project to use satellite broadband technology to bring eHealth and telemedicine to isolated areas of developing countries SATMED was first deployed in Sierra Leone in support of the fight against Ebola 126 Governance and structure EditList of international presidents 127 1991 1992 Rony Brauman 1992 Reginald Moreels 1992 1994 Rony Brauman 1994 1995 Jacques De Milliano 1995 1996 Doris Schopper 1996 1997 Philippe Biberson 1997 1998 Doris Schopper 1998 2000 James Orbinski 2000 2003 Morten Rostrup 2004 2006 Rowan Gillies 2006 2010 Christophe Fournier 2010 2013 Unni Karunakara 2013 2019 Joanne Liu 2019 Present Christos ChristouIn addition to the Geneva global headquarters and five regional operational centers as of 2020 MSF had national offices as follows 128 MSF Australia MSF Austria MSF Belgium MSF Brazil MSF Canada MSF Czech Republic MSF Denmark MSF Eastern Africa MSF Finland MSF France MSF Germany MSF Greece MSF Hong Kong MSF Ireland MSF Italy MSF Japan MSF Republic of Korea MSF Lat Spanish Speaking South America MSF Luxembourg MSF Mexico MSF Netherlands MSF Norway MSF South Africa MSF SARA South Asia Regional Association India Pakistan Afghanistan Sri Lanka Bangladesh MSF Spain MSF Sweden MSF Switzerland MSF Taiwan MSF United Kingdom MSF United StatesIn house organisations EditEpicentre Edit In 1986 MSF created Epicentre an in house research organisation to support its activities Epicentre conducts training publishes scientific papers and develops new techniques for MSF It performs epidemiological research conducts clinical vaccine trials during outbreaks MSF is responding to experiments on vaccine stability and analysis of vaccine deployment strategy 129 Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines Edit Main article Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines The Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines was initiated in 1999 to increase access to essential medicines in developing countries Essential medicines are those drugs that are needed in sufficient supply to treat a disease common to a population 130 However most diseases common to populations in developing countries are no longer common to populations in developed countries therefore pharmaceutical companies find that producing these drugs is no longer profitable and may raise the price per treatment decrease development of the drug and new treatments or even stop production of the drug MSF often lacks effective drugs during field missions and started the campaign to put pressure on governments and pharmaceutical companies to increase funding for essential medicines In 2006 MSF tried to use its influence to urge the drug maker Novartis to drop its case against India s patent law that prevents Novartis from patenting its drugs in India A few years earlier Novartis also sued South Africa to prevent it from importing cheaper AIDS drugs 131 On 1 April 2013 it was announced that the Indian court invalidated Novartis s patent on imatinib Gleevec This decision makes the drug available via generics on the Indian market at a considerably lower price 132 In March 2017 Els Torreele who had been leading the campaign from 1999 to 2003 returned to MSF as the executive director of the Access Campaign For the following three years she led a global analysis and advocacy team whose goal was to guarantee that appropriate medicines vaccines and diagnostics are developed available affordable and adapted to people s needs 133 As of 2022 the most critical subjects of the campaign were rising antimicrobial resistance and outbreaks of epidemic diseases such as Ebola and COVID Still a lot of vaccines diagnostics and medicines were inaccessible for people in need 134 Security risks to staff EditMSF staff are sometimes attacked or kidnapped In some countries humanitarian aid organisations are viewed as helping the enemy If an aid mission is perceived to be exclusively set up for victims on one side of the conflict it may come under attack However the War on Terrorism has generated attitudes among some groups in US occupied countries that non governmental aid organisations such as MSF are allied with or even work for the Coalition forces Insecurity in cities in Afghanistan and Iraq rose significantly following United States operations and MSF has declared that providing aid in these countries was too dangerous 135 The organisation was forced to evacuate its teams from Afghanistan on 28 July 2004 136 after five staff Afghans Fasil Ahmad and Besmillah Belgian Helene de Beir Norwegian Egil Tynaes and Dutchman Willem Kwint were killed on 2 June in an ambush by unidentified militia near Khair Khana in Badghis Province 137 In June 2007 Elsa Serfass a staff member with MSF France was killed 138 in the Central African Republic and in January 2008 two expatriate staff Damien Lehalle and Victor Okumu and a national staff member Mohammed Bidhaan Ali were killed in an organised attack 139 in Somalia resulting in the closing of the project Arrests and abductions in politically unstable regions can also occur for volunteers and in some cases MSF field missions can be expelled entirely from a country Arjan Erkel Head of Mission in Dagestan in the North Caucasus was kidnapped and held hostage in an unknown location by unknown abductors from 12 August 2002 until 11 April 2004 Paul Foreman head of MSF Holland was arrested in Sudan in May 2005 for refusing to divulge documents used in compiling a report on rapes carried out by the pro government Janjaweed militias see Darfur conflict Foreman cited the privacy of the women involved and MSF alleged that the Sudanese government had arrested him because it disliked the bad publicity generated by the report 140 On 14 August 2013 MSF announced that it was closing all of its programmes in Somalia due to attacks on its staff by Al Shabaab militants and perceived indifference or inurement to this by the governmental authorities and wider society 141 On 3 October 2015 14 staff and 28 others died when an MSF hospital was bombed by American forces during the Battle of Kunduz 142 On 7 October 2015 US President Barack Obama issued an apology 143 Doctors Without Borders was not satisfied by Obama s apology 144 Main article Kunduz hospital airstrike On 27 October 2015 an MSF hospital in Sa dah Yemen was bombed by the Saudi Arabia led military coalition 145 On 28 November 2015 an MSF supported hospital was barrel bombed by a Syrian Air Force helicopter killing seven and wounding forty seven people near Homs Syria 146 On 10 January 2016 an MSF supported hospital in Sa dah was bombed by the Saudi Arabia led military coalition killing six people 147 On 15 February 2016 two MSF supported hospitals in Idlib District and Aleppo Syria were bombed killing at least 20 and injuring dozens of patients and medical personnel 148 149 Both Russia and the United States denied responsibility and being in the area at the time 150 On 28 April 2016 an MSF hospital in Aleppo was bombed killing 50 including six staff and patients 151 On 12 May 2020 an MSF supported hospital in Dasht e Barchi Kabul Afghanistan was attacked by an unknown assailant The attack left 24 people dead and at least 20 more injured 152 On 25 June 2021 three MSF employees were reported killed in Tigray Ethiopia 153 Awards Edit1999 Nobel Peace Prize Edit James Orbinski speaking about MSF in 2015 The then president of MSF James Orbinski gave the Nobel Peace Prize speech on behalf of the organisation In the opening he discusses the conditions of the victims of the Rwandan genocide and focuses on one of his woman patients 154 There were hundreds of women children and men brought to the hospital that day so many that we had to lay them out on the street and even operate on some of them there The gutters around the hospital ran red with blood The woman had not just been attacked with a machete but her entire body rationally and systematically mutilated Her ears had been cut off And her face had been so carefully disfigured that a pattern was obvious in the slashes She was one among many living an inhuman and simply indescribable suffering We could do little more for her at the moment than stop the bleeding with a few necessary sutures We were completely overwhelmed and she knew that there were so many others She said to me in the clearest voice I have ever heard Allez allez ummera ummerasha Go go my friend find and let live your courage James Orbinski Nobel acceptance speech for MSF Orbinski affirmed the organisation s commitment to publicizing the issues MSF encountered stating 155 Silence has long been confused with neutrality and has been presented as a necessary condition for humanitarian action From its beginning MSF was created in opposition to this assumption We are not sure that words can always save lives but we know that silence can certainly kill James Orbinski Lasker Prize Edit MSF received the Lasker Bloomberg Public Service Award in 2015 from the New York based Lasker Foundation 156 Namesakes EditThe French game show Jeux Sans Frontieres Games Without Frontiers is older being first broadcast in Europe in 1965 A number of other unrelated non governmental organisations have adopted names ending in Sans Frontieres or Without Borders inspired by Medecins Sans Frontieres for example Engineers Without Borders Avocats Sans Frontieres Lawyers Without Borders Reporters sans frontieres Reporters Without Borders Payasos Sin Fronteras Clowns Without Borders Bibliotheques Sans Frontieres and Homeopaths Without Borders Controversies EditThere have been several significant scandals including sexual misconduct 157 158 159 racism 160 161 exploitation and other similar cases 162 163 including exploitation of patients in their care including children and staff 164 One scandal involves exploitative images taken and sold without consent of patients 165 166 Images include a mourning mother standing over her dead baby boy child rape survivors and sexual and domestic abuse survivors 167 MSF s funding model has come under scrutiny after BlackRock donated 500 000 towards its COVID 19 crisis fund leading to calls of hypocrisy from staff and other humanitarian organisations 168 169 170 See also Edit Switzerland portal Medicine portalNon fiction work about MSF Edit Hope in Hell 2006 book by Dan Bortolotti Living in Emergency 2008 documentary film by Mark N Hopkins that tells the story of four MSF volunteer doctors confronting the challenges of medical work in war torn areas of Liberia and Congo An Imperfect Offering 2008 memoir by former MSF president James Orbinski Triage Dr James Orbinski s Humanitarian Dilemma 2007 documentary Six Months in Sudan 2009 memoir by doctor James Maskalyk The Photographer Into War torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders graphic novelRelevant topics Edit Attacks on humanitarian workersReferences Edit a b Our staff Archived from the original on 19 May 2015 Retrieved 2 June 2015 MSF International Financial Report 2016 PDF Retrieved 11 July 2021 a b c La creation de Medecins Sans Frontieres in French Medecins Sans Frontieres Doctors Without borders La creation de Medecins Sans Frontieres Retrieved 14 September 2011 MSF Article MSF s Charter About MSF MSF UK Archived 21 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 31 May 2009 MSF Article La Mancha Agreement Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 31 May 2009 MSF USA Special Report The 10 Most Underreported Humanitarian Crises of 2005 Archived 28 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine The Seoul Peace Prize Cultural Foundation Archived 29 August 2013 at archive today Ten Greeks Who Left Their Mark in 2019 GreekReporter com 26 December 2019 Retrieved 11 January 2022 a b c d e f Bortolotti Dan 2004 Hope in Hell Inside the World of Doctors Without Borders Firefly Books ISBN 1 55297 865 6 Bortolotti above puts the death toll at 10 000 An estimate of 15 000 to 30 000 warning of an inevitable dysentery epidemic comes from Camilo V 1974 The Earthquake in Managua The Lancet 303 7845 25 26 doi 10 1016 s0140 6736 74 93014 1 PMID 4129001 MSF Article Chronologies Annees 70 French MSF France Retrieved 10 January 2006 Dromi Shai M 2020 Above the Fray The Red Cross and the Making of the Humanitarian NGO Sector Chicago Univ of Chicago Press p 126 ISBN 9780226680101 MSF Article 1999 Cambodia s second chance Archived 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 10 January 2006 MSF Article 2005 MSF s principles and identity The challenges ahead Archived 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 10 January 2006 Richard Seymour The Liberal Defense of Murder London 2008 p 174 Dr Bernard Kouchner and MSF A Clarification 22 May 2007 Doctorswithoutborders org Archived from the original on 27 September 2011 Retrieved 3 October 2011 Information obtained from the various sections websites Denis Kennedy Humanitarian NGOs and the Norm of Neutrality A Community Approach Davey Eleanor 2011 Famine aid and ideology the political activism of Medecins Sans Frontieres in the 1980s French Historical Studies 34 3 529 58 doi 10 1215 00161071 1259157 MSF Article Chronologie Annees 80 French MSF France Retrieved 10 January 2006 MSF Article Chronologie Annees 90 French MSF France Retrieved 11 January 2006 MSF Article 2004 Liberia War ends but the crisis continues Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 11 January 2006 Choo V 1993 Forensic evidence of Iraqi atrocities against Kurds The Lancet 341 8840 299 300 doi 10 1016 0140 6736 93 92641 6 S2CID 54356564 MSF Article 2005 Somalia Saving lives in an abandoned land Archived 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 11 January 2006 MSF Article 2000 Srebrenica five years on MSF Retrieved 11 January 2006 Archived 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine Forsythe DP 2005 International humanitarianism in the contemporary world forms and issues Human Rights and Human Welfare Working Papers Source PDF 257 KB One cannot stop a genocide with doctors French Archived 10 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine MSF France Retrieved 7 January 2006 Forsythe DP 1996 The International Committee of the Red Cross and humanitarian assistance A policy analysis International Review of the Red Cross 314 512 531 Code of Conduct for the ICRC Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief List of signatories PDF ICRC Retrieved 7 January 2006 Principles of Conduct for The ICRC Movement and NGOs in Disaster Response Programmes ICRC Retrieved 7 January 2006 Medecins Sans Frontieres James Orbinski Nobel Lecture Nobelprize org Retrieved 7 January 2006 Doctors Without Borders Responds To Charges Of Racism From Its Staff NPR MSF statement on SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v Wade MSF Article 2000 Kosovo The physical and psychological consequences of war Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 12 January 2006 Orbinski James 2008 An Imperfect Offering Humanitarian Action in the 21st Century Doubleday Canada ISBN 978 0 385 66069 3 Solidaire NATO used military operations data and assessments in Kosovo obtained by Medecins Sans Frontieres MSF Archived from the original on 1 May 2003 MSF Article 2002 No end in sight to the war in Chechnya Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 12 January 2006 MSF Article 2005 Haiti Working amid intensifying violence Archived 23 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 15 January 2006 Canadian Press Doctors Without Borders loses all three hospitals in Haitian quakeCP Retrieved January 2010 RT Doctors Without Borders Haiti Aid Planes refused landings 19 January 2010 MSF Article 2005 India Bringing medical care Archived 24 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 15 January 2006 MSF Article 2005 Post tsunami mental health We re still weak at the knees Archived 22 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 15 January 2006 Shevchenko Olga Fox Renee Nationals and expatriates Challenges of fulfilling sans frontieres without borders ideals in international humanitarian action www hhrjournal org Archived from the original on 23 January 2009 Retrieved 17 August 2009 a b WHO 2004 Introduction Archived 10 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine AIDS epidemic update December 2004 Retrieved 12 January 2006 WHO article 2010 Antiretroviral therapy MSF Retrieved 15 January 2006 MSF Article 1998 MSF 1998 Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 16 January 2006 MSF Article 2000 Preventing meningitis Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 16 January 2006 MSF Article 1998 MSF and other aid organisations evicted from Kabul Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 16 January 2006 MSF Article 1998 Attacks as told by victims Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 16 January 2006 MSF Article 2001 Controlling phantom limb pain in Sierra Leone Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 16 January 2006 a b c d e f MSF Article 2009 MSF in Sudan Test Archived 11 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 20 September 2011 MSF Article 2010 Sudan An Overview of MSF s Work in 2010 Archived 27 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 20 September 2011 Kolaczinski Jan H Hope Andrew Ruiz Jose Antonio Rumunu John Richer Michaleen Seaman Jill 2008 Kala azar Epidemiology and Control Southern Sudan Emerging Infectious Diseases Centers for Disease Control 14 4 664 666 doi 10 3201 eid1404 071099 PMC 2570907 PMID 18394290 MSF Press release 2010 Southern Sudan in Grips of Worst Disease Outbreak in Eight Years Archived 29 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 20 September 2011 MSF Article 2010 Medecins Sans Frontieres South Sudan MSF Retrieved 20 September 2011 MSF Article 2010 Sudan MSF to Open Additional Kala Azar Treatment Site in Upper Nile State Archived 27 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 20 September 2011 a b MSF Article 2010 Sudan MSF Opens a Kala Azar Treatment Center in Eastern Atbara Region Archived 26 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 20 September 2011 a b c MSF Article 2011 MSF condemns large scale attacks on civilians in South Sudan Archived 30 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 20 September 2011 MSF Article 2005 Nothing new in Ituri The violence continues Archived 16 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 15 January 2006 MSF Article 2004 The tragedy of the other Congo A forgotten war s victims Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 12 January 2006 McNeil Donald G Jr 16 November 2018 Rapid Cure Approved for Sleeping Sickness a Horrific Illness New York Times Retrieved 17 November 2018 MSF Article 2000 Democratic Republic of Congo DRC Complex emergency human catastrophe Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine WHO Retrieved 21 November 2010 MSF Article 2005 Uganda A neglected emergency Archived 8 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 12 January 2006 MSF Article 2004 Uganda Aiding civilians targeted by war Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 12 January 2006 a b MSF Article 2005 Cote d Ivoire Renewed violence deepens crisis Archived 8 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 21 January 2006 MSF Article 2003 MSF vaccinates thousands against measles in Ivory Coast Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 15 January 2006 Marc DuBois and Caitlin Wake with Scarlett Sturridge and Christina Bennett 2015 The Ebola response in West Africa Exposing the politics and culture of international aid London Overseas Development Institute Burundi Floods amp Landslides Flash Update No 3 12 December 2019 Burundi ReliefWeb Retrieved 13 December 2019 Armstrong JC Nichols BE Wilson JM Cosico RA Shanks L 20 March 2014 Spinal cord injury in the emergency context review of program outcomes of a spinal cord injury rehabilitation program in Sri Lanka Conflict and Health 8 1 4 doi 10 1186 1752 1505 8 4 PMC 3994551 PMID 24650231 International Activity Report 2010 Archived from the original on 14 April 2013 Retrieved 2 October 2011 CDC Article 2010 Counterfeit and Substandard Antimalarial Drugs Retrieved 21 February 2012 29 January 2019 Yeung Shunmay Van Damme Wim Socheat Doung White Nicholas J Mills Anne 29 May 2008 Yeung S et al 2008 Access to artemisinin combination therapy for malaria in remote areas of Cambodia Malaria Journal Retrieved 21 February 2012 Malaria Journal 7 1 96 doi 10 1186 1475 2875 7 96 PMC 2430580 PMID 18510724 Yeung Shunmay Van Damme Wim Socheat Duong White Nicholas J Mills Anne 20 May 2008 Yeung S et al 2008 Cost of increasing access to artemisinin combination therapy the Cambodian experience Malaria Journal Retrieved 21 February 2012 Malaria Journal 7 1 84 doi 10 1186 1475 2875 7 84 PMC 2413253 PMID 18492245 MSF Article 2004 AIDS in Cambodia A Second Chance at Life Retrieved 21 February 2012 Archived from the original on 10 March 2012 Retrieved 22 February 2012 WHO 2007 Offering integrated care for HIV AIDS diabetes and hypertension within chronic disease clinics in Cambodia Retrieved 21 February 2012 Archived from the original on 19 November 2007 WHO Cambodia Disaster Profile 2010 Retrieved 21 February 2012 PDF Archived from the original PDF on 28 June 2011 Retrieved 22 February 2012 MSF International Activity Report 2006 Retrieved 21 February 2012 Archived from the original on 14 April 2013 Retrieved 22 February 2012 IRIN report 2010 In Brief TB HIV warning for Cambodia s prisons Retrieved 21 February 2012 October 2010 LICAHDO Press Release 2011 Cambodian Prison Overcrowding Crisis Only Getting Worse Retrieved 21 February 2012 Janssens B et al 2007 Effectiveness of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy in HIV Positive Children Evaluation at 12 Months in a Routine Program in Cambodia Retrieved 21 February 2012 MSF article 2007 Cambodia Number of dengue cases drop in Takeo threat remains Retrieved 21 February 2012 Archived 14 April 2013 at archive today Mail and Guardian News Report 2008 Cambodia 407 died from dengue fever in 2007 Retrieved 21 February 2012 4 January 2008 MSF International Activity Report 2010 Retrieved 21 February 2012 Archived from the original on 14 April 2013 Retrieved 22 February 2012 MSF Field News 2011 Cambodia TB is One of the Biggest Challenges for Public Health Retrieved 21 February 2012 Archived from the original on 14 April 2013 Retrieved 22 February 2012 Mediterranean Sea Latest MSF Updates October 4 2017 Archived from the original on 18 February 2018 Retrieved 17 February 2018 Search and Rescue MSF Hindrance of humanitarian assistance will create a deadly gap in the Mediterranean Sea Aquarius forced to end operations as Europe condemns people to drown Medecins Sans Frontieres MSF International Retrieved 6 December 2018 a b June 2021 Update Search and Rescue SAR operations in the Mediterranean and fundamental rights 18 June 2021 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights fra europa eu accessed 20 June 2021 MSF returns to saving lives at sea in central Mediterranean 13 May 2021 www msf org accessed 20 June 2021 Hundreds of migrants rescued by MSF charity land in Sicily 18 June 2021 Reuters uk news yahoo com accessed 20 June 2021 a b Yemen Staff and patients killed after airstrike hits Abs Hospital 15 August 2016 Yemen 11 September 2016 Artsen zonder Grenzen verlaat Ter Apel Hopelijk niet nog eens nodig in Dutch RTL Nieuws 11 September 2022 Archived from the original on 13 September 2022 Field Operations What Do We Do Archived 16 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2003 The Vaccine Gap NY Times editorial Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Press Release 2003 MSF launches the first large scale test of an oral vaccine against cholera in the city of Beira Mozambique Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2004 World AIDS Day MSF country profiles Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2004 Once ill equipped and poorly manned transforming a hospital in North Darfur Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2001 Tajikistan Aid to health system in shambles Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2004 Nicaragua Focusing care on women s health and Chagas disease Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2002 MSF mental health activities a brief overview Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 Lebanon MSF Medecins Sans Frontieres MSF International Retrieved 8 March 2023 Feldman Ilana 2018 Life lived in relief humanitarian predicaments and Palestinian refugee politics Oakland California ISBN 978 0 520 97128 8 OCLC 1043049820 MSF Article 2000 Preventing malnutrition and famine Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2001 Malnutrition definition and MSF treatment Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2001 MSF Therapeutic Feeding Programmes Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 Drugs and Medical Supplies Catalogue Vol 1 2005 F 75 Description MSF Drugs and Medical Supplies Catalogue Vol 1 2005 F 100 Description MSF Drugs and Medical Supplies Catalogue Vol 1 2005 Plumpy nut Description MSF Drugs and Medical Supplies Catalogue Vol 1 2005 BP5 Description MSF MSF Article 2001 Diarrhoea definition and MSF treatment Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2001 MSF Water and Health Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2002 Simple water treatment MSF UAE Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2001 Cholera definition and MSF treatment Archived 29 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2002 Removal and treatment of wastewater MSF UAE Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2002 Refuse pit MSF UAE Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2002 Malnutrition rates and measures Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article 2002 Mortality rates and measures Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 WHO Fact Sheet Meningococcal meningitis WHO Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article Mental health care crucial in emergency situations Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 MSF Article A scientific approach to temoignage Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 28 December 2005 Prunier Gerard 2005 Darfur The Ambiguous Genocide Cornell University Press p 149 ISBN 978 0 8014 4450 0 Editorial 2009 PLoS Medicine Ethics Without Borders PLOS Medicine www plosmedicine org 6 7 e1000119 doi 10 1371 journal pmed 1000119 PMC 2708348 PMID 19636357 Rennie Stuart Global bioethics blog Ethics research and Medecins Sans Frontieres globalbioethics blogspot com Retrieved 11 August 2009 SES Joins the Clinton Global Initiative CGI Press release SES 14 September 2014 Retrieved 31 January 2016 MSF International Presidents www doctorswithoutborders ca 22 September 2016 Retrieved 21 January 2022 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link 2020 in figures MSF Medecins Sans Frontieres MSF International Retrieved 21 January 2022 Who We Are WHO Health topic Essential Medicines MSF Urges Novartis to Drop Case Against Indian Government Doctors Without Borders Web1 doctorswithoutborders org 20 December 2006 Archived from the original on 4 April 2012 Retrieved 3 October 2011 Novartis loses landmark India cancer drug patent case Reuters 1 April 2013 Archived from the original on 1 April 2013 Retrieved 1 April 2013 UCL 20 October 2020 Els Torreele UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose Retrieved 13 January 2022 Our Wishlist for 2022 Medecins Sans Frontieres Access Campaign Retrieved 13 January 2022 MSF Article 2004 Independent aid in Iraq virtually impossible Archived 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 12 January 2006 MSF Article 2004 The real reasons MSF left Afghanistan Archived 28 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 12 January 2006 MSF Article 2004 MSF pulls out of Afghanistan Archived 16 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 17 January 2006 MSF Press Release MSF Ongoing insecurity in CAR threatens lives of civilians and humanitarians blocking urgent medical care www msf org Archived from the original on 2 December 2008 Retrieved 4 August 2009 MSF Press Release MSF MSF is shocked and outraged by attack on our team in Somalia www msf org Archived from the original on 2 December 2008 Retrieved 4 August 2009 MSF Article 2005 MSF shocked by arrest of Head of Mission in Sudan charged with crimes against the state Archived 2 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine MSF Retrieved 11 January 2006 Karunakara Unni Why MSF decided to leave Somalia Retrieved 13 November 2013 Christopher Stokes 4 October 2015 Death toll rises Press release Medecins Sans Frontieres Shear Michael D Sengupta Somini 7 October 2015 Obama Issues Rare Apology Over Bombing of Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Afghanistan The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 1 October 2019 Kheel Rebecca 8 October 2015 Doctors Without Borders not mollified by Obama apology TheHill Retrieved 2 October 2019 Airstrikes hit Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital in Yemen The Guardian 27 October 2015 Syria Barrel bombing of MSF supported hospital kills seven Msf org uk December 2015 Retrieved 6 July 2016 MSF supported hospital bombed in Yemen death toll rises to six Medecins Sans Frontieres 17 January 2016 Syrian war Suspected Russian air strikes destroy two hospitals despite so called Syria ceasefire The Independent UK 15 February 2016 MSF supported hospital bombed by Russian Air Force in Northern Syria The UK Guardian 15 February 2016 CBS AP February 16 2016 8 23 AM 16 February 2016 U S and Russia both deny bombing Syrian clinic Cbsnews com Retrieved 6 July 2016 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Kareem Shaheen in Beirut Ian Black 28 April 2016 Airstrike on MSF backed Aleppo hospital kills patients and doctors Theguardian com Retrieved 6 July 2016 Kabul Hospital Attack They came to kill the mothers Medecins Sans Frontieres 15 May 2020 Three MSF employees killed in Ethiopia s Tigray aid agency says Reuters 25 June 2021 Retrieved 26 June 2021 Abrams Irwin 2001 The Nobel Peace Prize and the laureates An illustrated biographical history 1901 2001 Nantucket Massachusetts Science History Publications pp 351 352 MSF Article 1999 The Nobel Peace Prize speech www msf org MSF Retrieved 7 October 2013 2015 Lasker Prize for MSF in Spanish Jornada unam mx 8 September 2015 Archived from the original on 22 April 2016 Retrieved 6 July 2016 Arie Sophie 25 June 2018 Medecins Sans Frontieres is focus of new sex scandal in charity sector BMJ 361 k2788 doi 10 1136 bmj k2788 ISSN 0959 8138 PMID 29941460 S2CID 49407281 MSF dealt with 24 cases of sex abuse in 2017 DW 02 14 2018 dw com Retrieved 11 December 2022 Doctors Without Borders fired 19 people for sexual abuse last year Reuters 14 February 2018 Retrieved 11 December 2022 Feelings running high at Eurocentric MSF The New Humanitarian 24 June 2020 Retrieved 11 December 2022 Medecins Sans Frontieres is institutionally racist say 1 000 insiders The Guardian 10 July 2020 Retrieved 11 December 2022 MSF apologises after BBC reports widespread sexual misconduct issues www civilsociety co uk Retrieved 11 December 2022 Medecins Sans Frontieres staff used local prostitutes BBC News 20 June 2018 Retrieved 11 December 2022 Kardas Nelson Sean Campbell Mara Doctors Without Borders saves lives every day Some insiders say it is also a racist workplace where nonwhite workers get worse pay less security and inferior medical care Business Insider Retrieved 12 December 2022 Medecins Sans Frontieres pulls images of teenage rape survivor after outcry Safeguarding Resource and Support Hub safeguardingsupporthub org Retrieved 11 December 2022 Medecins Sans Frontieres condemned for profiting from exploitative images The Guardian 25 May 2022 Retrieved 11 December 2022 Medecins Sans Frontieres apologises for using images of child rape survivor The Guardian 26 May 2022 Retrieved 11 December 2022 BlackRock s COVID 19 Response BlackRock Retrieved 11 December 2022 Mission impossible humanitarianism is neutral or it is nothing MSF Medecins Sans Frontieres MSF International Retrieved 11 December 2022 Gut punch MSF staff wounded by decision to accept Blackrock donation Middle East Eye Retrieved 11 December 2022 Further reading EditBortolotti D 2004 Hope in Hell Inside the World of Doctors Without Borders Firefly Books Buffalo N Y 97 11 1575 1577 ISBN 978 1 55297 865 8 PMC 2594913 Katz IT Wright AA 2004 Collateral Damage Medecins sans Frontieres Leaves Afghanistan and Iraq The New England Journal of Medicine 351 25 2571 2573 doi 10 1056 NEJMp048296 PMID 15602015 registration required McCall M Salama P 1 September 1999 Selection training and support of relief workers an occupational health issue British Medical Journal 318 7176 113 116 doi 10 1136 bmj 318 7176 113 PMC 1114577 PMID 9880288 Shevchenko O Fox RC 2008 Nationals and expatriates Challenges of fulfilling sans frontieres without borders ideals in international humanitarian action Health and Human Rights 10 1 109 122 doi 10 2307 20460093 JSTOR 20460093 PMID 20845834 Archived from the original on 23 January 2009 Retrieved 17 August 2009 Weber Oliver 1995 French Doctors Robert Laffont Weber Oliver 2002 Humanitaires Felin Zwi A B 2004 How Should the Health Community Respond to Violent Political Conflict PLOS Medicine 1 1 e14 doi 10 1371 journal pmed 0010014 PMC 523835 PMID 15526042 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Medecins sans frontieres Official website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Medecins Sans Frontieres amp oldid 1145254814, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.