Medecins Sans Frontieres

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an organization that provides emergency humanitarian and medical assistance. Founded in Paris, in 1971, by a small group of French doctors and journalists, it is now an international movement. MSF’s mission is to assist people in distress, without discriminating in any way, and ensuring respect for human dignity. MSF is an organization that is independent of all political, religious, military or economic influence. This freedom of decisions and action is founded on the financial independence of the organization. Since MSF was founded, millions of donors around the world have made a financial commitment, alongside MSF, to support its operations. This participation can take the form of a one-off donation or a regular direct debit, which guarantees the sustainability of our resources and our operations. MSF’s goal is to relieve suffering, by working directly with those in need, ensuring respect for their dignity, and endeavouring to provide the best possible care for all those in need. MSF provides relief and medical care to those living through a crisis that threatens their physical and mental well-being. More than two-thirds of MSF’s field volunteers are surgeons, anesthetises, nurses, midwives, psychiatrists, psychologists, epidemiologists, doctors, pharmacists or laboratory assistants. Whether in a context of war, epidemic, or famine, they operate on the wounded, care for the sick, conduct immunization campaigns, set up medical feeding programs, and provide psychological care for those suffering from trauma. They also help restore and re-equip existing health-care services, and provide training for medical personnel. MSF provides its aid to endangered populations, free of all ethnic, political, religious or economic discrimination. MSF acts with full independence, after evaluating the people’s medical needs. This means being able to evaluate those needs freely, gain unrestricted access to the people concerned, and exert direct control over relief operations, focusing primarily on those in the most grave and immediate danger. MSF never takes part in armed conflicts, thus adhering to the principle of neutrality. Neutrality is not, however, synonymous with silence. Currently, MSF has a network of sections in 18 countries (5 operational centres in Europe and 13 national sections worldwide). Annually, around 3,000 people volunteer for the MSF to be doctors, nurses and support staff. MSF teams are in 80 countries of the world, working with over 15,000 locally recruited staff.