Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization providing aid in nearly 70 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters. MSF seeks to bring attention to neglected crises, to challenge inadequacies or abuse of the aid system, and to advocate for improved medical treatments and protocols.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières Facts:
- Each year, 2,000 international aid workers and 20,000 locally hired staff provide over 7.5 million patient consultations.
- Over half of MSF’s programs focus on assisting victims of armed conflict or internal instability.
- MSF vaccinated nearly 8 million people against meningitis in 2009 and vaccinated another 1.4 million children against measles.
- In 2009, MSF helped deliver more than 110,000 babies, including many by cesarean sections.
- MSF was awarded the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize.
Examples of Current Programs:
- MSF is providing medical care in post-earthquake Haiti. By the end of May, MSF teams had conducted over 173,000 consultations and performed 11,000 surgeries. Teams are also providing medical care and clean water to flood victims in Pakistan.
- MSF is responding to a severe nutritional crisis in the Sahel region of Africa. In Niger alone, one of the worst affected countries, MSF will provide care to over 150,000 malnourished children by the end of the year.
- MSF teams work in remote and war-torn areas where few, if any, aid organizations are present. In 2010, teams are reaching victims of conflict in Somalia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan to name a few.
For more information or to donate, please visit www.doctorswithoutborders.com