October Outreach 2019: Doctors Without Borders

Doctors Without Borders was founded by three French physicians who went to Biafra in 1970. The concept of going to where the patients are without political or religious boundaries getting in the way remains a guiding principal today.

Every year since 1971, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) provides emergency medical care to millions of people caught in crises in more than 60 countries around the world. MSF provides assistance when catastrophic events—such as armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, or natural disasters—overwhelm local health systems. MSF also assists people who face discrimination or neglect from their local health systems or when populations are otherwise excluded from health care.

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.

MSF USA Executive Director Jason Cone states: “Practicing medical humanitarian action is about helping strangers, people you have never met and may never see again. It is an act of protest against the suffering of others.”