Drs Without Borders, also known internationally by our French name, Médecin sans Frontières
or MSF, is an independent medical-humanitarian organization.
Founded in 1971, MSF won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.
Today we have some 33,000 staff on the ground in roughly 70 countries.
MSF provides life-saving medical care to those affected by war, natural disasters, disease
outbreaks, systematic neglect or exclusion and other crises.
We work in accordance with international humanitarian law and medical ethics.
We treat people based on medical needs alone, regardless of race, religion or political
affiliation.
MSF is set up to respond to emergencies and provide free, high-quality medical care.
Over the years our logistical teams have developed ready-made kits to help us mobilize quickly.
These kits contain the materials needed to fight a cholera outbreak or get a surgical
program up and running.
A kit could even contain a fully functioning inflatable operating theater.
We have an extensive network of aid workers staffing projects all over the world, along
with emergency experts ready to fly out at a moment's notice.
Perhaps most importantly, the vast majority of MSF's funding comes from private donors,
not governments.
This is how we maintain financial independence that allows us to make rapid operational decisions
based on the medical needs we see on the ground, not on political or funding considerations.
At any given moment, MSF teams are treating patients in a range of emergencies.
Nearly a third of MSF's projects are in conflict zones.
Here, people are caught in the crossfire and cut off from healthcare services, unable to
get the assistance they urgently need.
Our teams work to establish safe spaces for patients and for medical personnel.
Team leaders actively negotiate access to communities where the needs are greatest.
They do this by communicating with all sides to a conflict and explaining MSF's guiding
principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence, along with the healthcare services
we offer.
In many places, this allows MSF to work where other organizations can't.
Even as fighting continues, our teams assist the wounded and others affected by war with
a range of critical services, including surgery, emergency obstetrics and maternity care.
MSF also provides primary healthcare, vaccinations, mental health counseling and more, adapting
programs to people's health needs.
When an earthquake, hurricane or other natural disaster hits, experienced MSF staff evaluate
the situation on the ground to identify the most urgent needs.
At warehouses in logistical hubs around the world, teams assemble medicines and supplies
and send them as quickly as possible.
MSF in the disaster zone can then start treating the wounded and reinforcing battered medical
systems.
This might mean setting up an inflatable hospital for emergency surgeries, providing water and
sanitation services, or running programs to prevent disease outbreaks where people are
taking shelter.
Conflicts, natural disasters and other crises can drive people from their homes, forcing
them to flee unstable circumstances in search of safety.
Too often they find more uncertainty in hardship along with poor living conditions where public
services are scarce.
Here MSF responds to the particular health needs of displaced people by treating illnesses
and injuries, preventing disease outbreaks, battling malnutrition and ensuring access
to maternal and pediatric care.
In some cases, teams also provide water and sanitation services or distribute essential
everyday items like soap, cooking oil and shelter materials.
Women and children are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence in overcrowded camps or
wherever law and order have broken down.
MSF provides medical and mental health care for survivors of sexual violence and does
community outreach to let people know that free, confidential treatment is available
and that survivors should come in for care as quickly as possible.
The majority of our patients are women and children and we offer specialized care to
attend to their specific needs, particularly around maternal health and childbirth.
In many MSF projects we offer comprehensive care for mothers and babies.
This includes prenatal, postnatal and newborn care along with emergency care for complications
from deliveries such as obstructed labour and postpartum hemorrhage.
Malaria, cholera and measles are just some of the diseases MSF tackles.
Our epidemiologists track outbreaks while other medical staff treat the sick and launch
prevention efforts like vaccination campaigns.
Community outreach teams let people know how to identify and halt the spread of a disease
while we test for new cases.
In 2014 and 15 MSF took the lead in responding to the massive Ebola outbreak that struck
West Africa, treating more than 5,000 people and repeatedly calling on the international
community to do more to help.
Starting in the year 2000, MSF began treating people with HIV and AIDS.
We now provide anti-retroviral treatment to more than 341,000 people in 20 countries.
MSF also runs a number of programs for those with tuberculosis and drug-resistant TB as
well as dangerous HIV-TB co-infections.
For MSF it's not enough to just provide medical services.
We also speak out about what's happening to people.
We advocate for our patients in meetings and in statements directed to governments and
to the international community as well as through the media and other platforms.
The message is always the same.
People at risk should be able to access health care and medical workers even in active conflict
zones, must be allowed to provide it according to the Geneva Conventions and International
Humanitarian Law.
MSF also believes that life-saving medicines and vaccines must be affordable and accessible
to the people who need the most.
MSF works with some of the most vulnerable people on the planet and we're often frustrated
by both the high cost of medicines and the lack of diagnostic tools and treatments available
in some countries.
MSF's access campaign pushes governments and the pharmaceutical industry to direct
research and development efforts toward making affordable products for the kinds of diseases
our patients face, including potentially fatal ones such as tuberculosis and neglected diseases
like Kala Azar.
MSF conducts research to document our efforts to adapt and optimize care in logistically
challenging settings where resources are limited.
Given our reach as an organization and the places where we work, we can often gather
insights and data that few others can.
By publishing our findings in peer-reviewed medical journals, we share this work with
the medical humanitarian community so that other organizations and vulnerable populations
can benefit from our on-the-ground experience.
In recent years, MSF research has shown innovative and successful new ways to treat patients.
We've demonstrated more effective treatment of severely malnourished children in India,
provided integrated community-based care for HIV and TB patients in Swaziland, and expanded
the use of vaccinations against tetanus, cholera and other potentially fatal diseases for children
living in refugee camps.
MSF strives to be transparent and accountable for our work.
This means publishing critical reviews of our programs, information about our spending,
and accounts of what's worked and what needs to improve in our medical programs.
Accountability is one of our core principles, something we know is connected to everything
else we do.
We're grateful for the support we receive from donors around the world, so we provide
as much information about our work as we can through various platforms, including regular
donor communications, the news media, social media, and public events.
The ongoing support of our donors, together with the profound commitment of our aid workers,
will allow MSF to provide independent and impartial assistance to people in crises for
a long time to come.
We know that the future holds many challenges for people around the world, but we also know
what's possible when we go where we're most needed, with the materials we need to deliver
life-saving medical care.
