Essay on Analysis of an NGO: Doctors Without Borders

If a health clinic providing basic services to the world’s most vulnerable people is withheld the large amount of foreign assistance that currently comes from the United States government, all diseases will flourish, including epidemics such as Zika and Ebola (Barry-Jester, 2016). We contribute to more unstable political environments (Crimm, 2007, p.615) and more refugees that we increasingly refuse to help when we take away aid that would countries meet the needs of their citizens.

The third episode of the video series “Rx for Survival,” focused on the hindrances in conveying the 21st century’s global health tools worldwide and was titled “Delivering the Goods.” The episode expressed the difficulty in delivering public health interventions to many of the world’s people; as a large challenge, and declared the fact that 10 million children die yearly from preventable causes “a great paradox of public health” (Rx for Survival, 2005). The video relayed some of the larger obstacles to providing care for the needy as being: geographical, information delivery, and political (Rx for Survival, 2005).

In a medically savaged developing country when there is a sudden influx of scarce resources, whom of the inflicted and in need shall be the beneficiary? The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care....” (Skolnik, 2016). Poverty stricken countries caught up in a labyrinth of illness are unable to deliver the correct care their inhabitants necessitate. Richard Skolnik in “Global Health 101” identifies four basic ethical principles underlying most scarce resource allocation schemes as: 1) health maximization; 2) equality; 3) priority to the worst off and 4) personal responsibility.

As the rifle and machine gun fire exchanges in the Syrian Civil War not only lives are lost but many innocent men, women and children are left in need of emergency care. Cecily Hilleary, a traveling journalist for VOA World News, mentions “the United Nations estimates the civil war raging in Syria has left more than 2.5 million people in dire need of food, water, drugs and medical supplies,” not including the already 25,000, and counting, deceased from the war (VOA par. 9). The medical aid is minimal in Syria due to the low number of volunteers and medical staff. Cecily tells the stories of crowded hospitals with over 250-350 beds being piled up upon with hurt Syrian individuals, many being innocent women and

Reason being they are unique for they are an organization traveling all over the world sharing hope and care for the unfortunate and is funded by individual people who support the cause of what is offered through a nonprofit organization. This organization is a worldwide support for delivering medical emergency aid affected by conflict, epidemics and disasters whereas the exclusion of health care. the unique concept of the Doctors without Borders in 1971 they founded though two journalist Raymond Borel and

Abassi, L. (2017, August 10). Refugee doctors a wasted resource? | American council on science and health. Retrieved from https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/08/10/refugee-doctors-wasted-resource-11679

In recent years, Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone have launched major healthcare initiatives in order to expand and improve access to services. However, the state of health systems for the last 20 years is difficult to overcome. Liberia and Sierra Leone were each embroiled in civil wars until the mid-2000s. Porous borders and a shared diamond belt meant that their conflicts were often shared, as political strife, violence, looting, armed forces, and refugees moved to neighboring countries. , Guinea in particular was on the receiving end of refugees. During that time in all three countries, health systems were uniformly poor, with under-staffed and under-resourced facilities, significant health disparities, and almost no systematic infectious disease surveillance or control.

In 2011, I traveled to my hometown in Haiti to reconnect with friends and family. It was great to be back home and I got to enjoyed the food, music and spend quality time with family. What stood out the most during this trip was I witnessed nurses and doctors giving out medicine, vaccines and providing medical advice to the community. Seeing this prompted me to approach the doctors, who informed me of Doctors without Borders, an organization I would like to volunteer with once I become a physician. I agree with their mission and want to be part of a world-wide humanitarian organization.

For an organization whose motto is “speed saves lives,” it makes sense that there are a vast array of costs that come with the unique efficiency of MSF. After reading the section of Peter Redfield’s Life in Crisis entitled “Vital Mobility”, I was amazed by what MSF has been able to accomplish. All semester long I have learned of the intricacies of humanitarianism, how nothing is as simple as it seems. Often, I wonder why can’t it be simpler? Why do we let politics get in the way of good? Is there not a more effective way of helping distant strangers? Redfield’s focus on the mobility and efficiency of MSF seems to counteract how the rest of the humanitarian world works. No other organization can “[boast] of its ability to mobilize emergency aid to almost any part of the planet within forty-eight hours” (71). In no other way is foreign aid made to look so simple. MSF’s focus on efficiency, their

In 1997 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, MSF fights for access to Rwandan refugees and denounces massacres and human rights violations by North Korea. In the same year in Afghanistan, MSF teams in Kabul are fighting for the law that prevents women from accessing health

First, the overwhelming evidence of the total breakdown of the traditional family structure, the inhumane treatment at the hands of political and military authorities as well as the personal experiences of these children with violence and death have grossly impacted their mental awareness. However, psycho-social intervention is not provided because of the high level of poverty among these children and thus the necessity to satisfy their basis sustenance needs such as food, water, and shelter, takes precedence and hardly anything is done to address this urgent need. In spite of limited progress in many areas, healthcare remains a concern (USAID-MoHSW, 2015). While there is not a meaningful difference in the quality of care to either group, orphans tend to have less access to quality health care than non-orphans. There is no evidence that previous assessments on the quality of care of orphans and vulnerable children have changed. When these children fall ill, they were either taken to nearby medical facilities, or traditional healers/herbalists or were not treated at all. Non-orphans who were usually taken by their parents were more likely to receive treatment than orphans. The caregiver (of orphans), usually a family member just may not have the funds for treatment. The situation at the orphanages was even worse. For instance, of the over 100 orphanages assessed by the MoHSW, there was not a single medical facility on site. Moreover, no qualified health worker was employed on these facilities. Further, there was no record(s) to indicate of any regular visit of a medical practitioner; let alone a nurse or doctor. As a matter of fact, less than 2 percent of these orphanages had a first aid kit (Subah-Belleh Associates,

The Doctors without Borders organization was founded in 1971 in Paris due to the efforts of French doctors that originally worked for the Red Cross in Biafra during its civil war. The doctors were frustrated by the treatment of the Nigerian Troops’ to aid workers. Thus, upon returning to France, some doctors broke their contracts with the Red Cross and began to provide humanitarian aid not in conjunction with the regulations of the Red Cross. The doctors were firm believers that, “all people should have the right to medical care and that the needs of these people supersede respect for national borders” (MSF, 2001). During the same time period, a group of French journalists were trying to focus the attention of the world to people who were struggling and dying from natural disasters in countries like Iran and Afghanistan. These journalists believed that French doctors should help out with these natural disasters. In conjunction with the journalists, the doctors formed Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Starting from 1971, they have had a huge impact in helping shape history. A major event in the history of Doctors without Borders was helping

As the head of a small aid agency in Congo, our duty is to cater the refugee’s health dilemmas and concerns. We must attend to their needs by providing them the right health services suited for their condition. Like what is happening in the camp, the refugees are in need of cornea transplant because of the poor water condition which resulted to them being blind. Therefore, we must do any possible means of giving them enough corneas and adequate protection they need by figuring out how to eliminate the peculiar parasite in the water. Aside from that, incoming refugees would be possible knowing that civil war is happening at the moment so we also need to accommodate them

Human rights violations occur all around the world on a daily basis. Despite the Universal declaration of human rights (UDHR) to safeguard the rights of all human beings, some states are still dragging their feet to implement the basic rights their citizens are entitled to. So, to advocate for people whose rights have been denied, many Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have taken upon themselves to work and promote social and political change. These NGOs play an important part in improving communities, and advocating for citizen participation. In that sense, Doctors without borders, mostly known as Medecins sans Fontieres (MSF), has gained a lot of praise for its work for helping people in need, and acting as an instrument of reducing poverty worldwide.

TYPE A PROJECT--MSF is a neutral and impartial humanitarian organization that aims first and foremost to provide high-quality medical care to the people who need it the most. It does not promote the agenda of any country, political party, or religious faith, and, as such, endeavors to communicate its history, background, and capabilities to all parties in a given situation so that it may gain the necessary access to populations in need..On any given day, more than 30,000 doctors, nurses, logisticians, water-and-sanitation experts, administrators, and other qualified professionals working with MSF can be found providing medical care around the world..In 2012, MSF medical teams carried out more than 8.3 million outpatient consultations; delivered more than 185,000 babies; treated more than 1.6 million people for malaria; treated nearly 350,000 severely and moderately malnourished children; provided some 284,000 people living with HIV/AIDS with antiretroviral therapy; conducted more than 78,000 surgeries, and vaccinated 690,000 against measles and 496,000 against meningitis