Medicines Sans Frontieres (MSF)- Mai

Medicines Sans Frontieres

ID#1521120008-9 Kusakabe Mai

Medicines Sans Frontieres (MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare. It offers assistance to people based on need, regardless of race, religion, gender or political affiliation. Its actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of neutrality and impartiality. It reserves the right to speak out to bring attention to neglected crises, to challenge inadequacies or abuse of the aid system, and to support for improved medical treatments and protocols.

First, MSF was founded in Paris, France in 1971. Its principles are described in the organization’s founding declaration. It is a non-profit, self –governed organization. Today, MSF is a worldwide movement of 23 associations. The work of MFS is carried out by thousands of health professionals, logical and administrative staff. The vast majority of MSF staffs come from the countries where the organization provides medical assistance. Together, they manage projects in more than 60 countries worldwide.

 MSF’s work is based on humanitarian principles. The organization is committed to bringing quality medical care to people caught in crisis, regardless of race, religion or political affiliation. MSF operates independently. MSF determines people’s needs by conducting its own evaluations on the ground. More than 90 per cent of MSF’s overall funding comes from millions of private sources, not governments. MSF is neutral. The organization does not take sides in armed conflicts, provides care on the basis of need, and pushes for independent access to victims of conflict as required under international humanitarian law. MSF medical teams often witness violence, atrocities, and neglect in the course of their work, largely in regions that receive lacking international attention. At times, MSF may speak out publicly in an effort to bring a forgotten crisis to public attention, to alert the public to abuses occurring beyond the headlines, to criticize the inadequacies of the aid system, or to challenge the diversion of humanitarian aid for political interests. MSF medical teams on the ground are in constant dialogue with local authorities, warring parties, and other aid agencies in an attempt to ensure the best possible medical care for patients and their communities and to reinforce the organization’s operational independence. MSF rejects the idea that poor countries deserve third-rate medical care and try to provide high-quality care to patients and to improve the organization’s practices.

In 1999, when MSF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the organization announced the money would go towards raising awareness of and fighting against diseases. Through the Access Campaign, and in partnership with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, this work has helped lower the price of HIV/AIDS treatment and has stimulated research and development for medicines to treat malaria and neglected diseases like sleeping sickness and kala azar.

The majority of MSF staffs are gathered from countries where are supported by MSF. They are from various countries. Maybe, they know countries’ condition that needs to support well. So it is very useful for MSF to understand such countries correctly. And this is like area studies in America. Universities in America gather professors of area studies from various countries.