Doctors Without Borders was founded in 1971 by a group of 12 French doctors. The doctors worked with the Red Cross providing medical aid during the Nigerian civil war in Biafra. These doctors witnessed the starvation of many civilians, and they were seeing the Nigerian government commit genocide against its people. But the Red Cross had a policy to remain silent about what it witnessed in the field and required its volunteers to sign a contract saying they would obey the policy. It was this policy, as well as the inability to intervene without approval from the country’s government, that caused these doctors to deem the Red Cross obsolete. These doctors sought an alternative: a humanitarian aid organization that would provide medical relief …show more content…
Their first projects took place after the earthquake in Nicaragua in 1972 and in Honduras during the aftermath of Hurricane Fifi in 1974. Throughout these first few years the organization was still slow to react and dependent on cooperation with other organizations to bring aid to those who needed it. They sent three medical teams to Managua, Nicaragua in 1972, but these teams were disorganized and inefficient. MSF fell short of its goal to be first on the scene when they arrived 3 days after the relief effort from the Red Cross had already been set up. The project in Honduras two years later also required cooperation with other aid organizations and did not exemplify the quick response and efficiency that has come to be expected of MSF. In 1975 MSF participated in its first war zone mission in Vietnam and provided medical care to Cambodians as they fled the Khmer Rouge, making this its first large scale intervention in a refugee crisis. MSF established itself as a serious humanitarian aid organization and made an international name for itself in 1976 with its major war mission to Beirut. Because of the danger associated with the conflict between the different religious groups as well as Israeli and Syrian factions, this is where the teams learned the importance of neutrality. MSF stayed in Lebanon until they were …show more content…
Through longer-term programs, Doctors Without Borders has been able to treat chronic diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, and AIDS. Aiding needy populations and bringing health care to remote, isolated areas where resources and training are limited is one of their most distinguishing characteristics. In order to provide their services, they have over 15,000 member staff and more than 2,000 doctors, nurses, and other medical
The American Red Cross (2010) website tells of an organization guided by the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, and voluntary service whose mission is to, “provide relief to victims of disaster and help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies” (Mission statement, para. 1). It claims a history of founding in 1881 in Washington D.C. by Clara Barton. Still operating today, 129 years later, is evidence of its success as an organization. It has endured despite the fact that the very nature of
To answer that question, we travel back to 1881. “Clara Barton and some of her established the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C. on the date of May the 21st, 1881” (Red Cross). It originally was to aid the military in war, based off of the recent “Swiss-inspired” Red Cross that served globally in Europe after the American Civil war broke out. The American Red Cross wasn’t acting as an official aid of combat until the congress ratified the Geneva Convention in 1882. Thus, they were officially ready to sent recruits out into the United States Armed Forces as the new rank “Medic” was created, dedicated for those who served in the American Red Cross. Their first major work in action was the Spanish-American war that exploded in the tail end of the 19th century. There wasn’t going to be another war for another couple of decades, but the Red Cross was really awake. They paid attention to the rising tensions that rose between the major superpowers in Europe. Once the year 1917 came, America signed onto war, and officially sent out Red Cross medics to
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
The poor areas have many less doctors than the wealthy spots, even though the rural areas suffer from much harsher diseases on a larger scale. The countries either provide medical training for their own citizens or fund their training from somewhere else, but once the students have the skills to save lives, they move to different places for higher pay. This issue lies not only in South Africa, but in the entire continent. For example, for every Liberian doctor working in Liberia, there are two working abroad. Not only is there a shortage of doctors in general (averaging about 1.15 doctors for every 1,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa) but a shortage of nurses and midwives. Over two-thirds of mothers in Africa have no health professionals to guide them through hardships regarding pregnancy and childbirth, causing Africa alone to be responsible for over one half of the world’s infant and maternal
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.
On Saturday, October 3 a hospital in Afghanistan was bombed by the US. This is a terrible thing because the those people in the hospital were civilians, and the US should not be bombing civilians. The bombing killed 12 staff and 10 patients, 3 of them apparently children. 37 other people had non-fatal casualties. The organization which owned the hospital, Doctors Without Borders, calls the bombing of the hospital a “war crime.” American general John Campbell says that he offers his “deepest condolences” to those who got hit.
After the war, the American Red Cross focused on providing service to veterans and enhancing their programs in home care for the sick, safety training, nutrition education, and accident prevention (“A Brief”). During the severe drought and depression during the 1930s and the Mississippi River Floods in 1927, The American Red Cross helped provide relief for victims (“A Brief”). World War 2 allowed the services of the American Red Cross once again to be applied to the U.S military, their Allies, and civilian war victims (“A Brief”). They enrolled over 100,000 medically trained nurses for military service; in addition they prepared over 25 million care packages for American and allied prisoners of war, and shipped over 300,000 tons of vital supplies overseas (“A
Doctors without borders are a non-profit, medical humanitarian organisation, they are one of the few examples of altruism. They work in more than 60 countries providing
The CDC has been a promoter of global health for almost 6 decades. CDC protects Americans through their constant interactions with other countries. CDC understands that since we are now more globally dependable and connected, “a disease threat anywhere is a disease threat everywhere”. (CDC.gov) Because of the CDC ‘s programs in third world countries, the United States builds good relationships with other countries as well as monitor and control diseases. CDC protects and saves lives around the world.
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
Doctors Without Borders has been active in many African countries for years. In some cases, it has even been the only provider of health care in some areas of the continent. When the Ebola virus began to spread in some parts of Africa,
Imagine an entire community of individuals, from doctors to massage therapists, that does not answer to any political entity or religion, yet still manages to collectively provide free healthcare services to millions of individuals in need every year. Medecins Sans Frontiers, or popularly known in the US as Doctors Without Borders, is an international NGO that does just that. The organization began in 1971 when a group of French doctors and journalists recognized the dire need for assistance in healthcare during times of war, famine, and flood in Nigeria and Pakistan. Since then, it has expanded and provides aid to over 60 countries in underserved regions across Central America, South America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia as
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