Doctors Without Borders

On any given day, more than 27,000 committed individuals representing dozens of nationalities can be found providing assistance to people caught in crises around the world. They are doctors, nurses, logistics experts, administrators, epidemiologists, laboratory technicians, mental health professionals, and others who work together in accordance with MSF’s guiding principles of humanitarian action and medical ethics.

MSF field staff are supported by their colleagues in 19 offices around the world, including one in New York City. The vast majority of MSF’s aid workers are from the communities where the crises are occurring, with ten percent of teams made up of international staff. Read more about MSF.

Photo: Somalia 2009 © MSF

2011
Treating Victims of Mass Rape in DRC

In the first few weeks of the year, MSF responds to two incidents of mass rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo, treating, all told, more than 100 women, children, and men for sexual assault after they were attacked by militias operating in the area.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: DRC 2006 © Spencer Platt / Getty Images

2010
MSF Supports Use of New Meningitis A Vaccine

In December, MSF teams in Mali and Niger support the Ministries of Health in those countries to implement a promising new and longer-lasting vaccine for meningitis A, which is viewed as an important step towards preventing the outbreaks of the disease that have plagued the region for ages.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Niger 2009 © Guillaume Ratel

2010
Cholera Strikes Haiti

In October, after cholera hits Haiti, MSF mobilizes hundreds of staff members to respond, eventually opening more than 50 cholera treatment centers across the country, launching widespread public education campaigns, and tending to more than 100,000 patients—more than 60 percent of all cases in the country—in the months that followed.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Haiti 2010 © Moises Saman/Magnum

2010
Lead Poisoning In Nigeria

MSF teams carrying out measles vaccinations in Nigeria respond to reports of a mysterious illness that has killed dozens of children in a remote town, deducing upon their arrival that lead poisoning is the culprit and beginning the organization’s first ever lead poisoning response.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Nigeria 2010 © John Heeneman/MSF

2010
MSF and VII Launch “Starved For Attention”

MSF and the VII photo agency launch the “Starved For Attention” multimedia campaign on global malnutrition. The ongoing exhibition, which has already been staged in the US, Europe, and Africa, highlighted the often overlooked global scourge of malnutrition, its lethal impact on children in particular, and some innovative practices employed by MSF and others to combat it.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Burkina Faso, 2009 © Jessica Dimmock/VII Network

2010
Flooding Submerges Pakistan

MSF responds to massive floods in Pakistan by expanding existing programs and establishing new ones in areas the organization hadn’t worked previously. By December, teams had tended to more than 80,000 patients and distributed nearly 2 million liters of clean water, along with almost 65,000 relief kits.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Pakistan 2010 © Andrew McConnell

2010
Earthquake in Haiti

After a massive earthquake hits Haiti on January 12, MSF launches one of its largest ever interventions, expanding its projects in the country from 3 to a high of 26, treating more than 173,757 patients, and performing more than 11,748 surgeries in the five months that follow.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Haiti 2010 © Julie Remy

2009
A Difficult Year in Sudan

MSF launches emergency interventions in the south in response to escalating violence and outbreaks, while, in Darfur, the government expels two sections and four staff members are kidnapped. Some projects are therefore closed, but MSF nonetheless provides nearly 129,000 consultations and support numerous local health centers.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Sudan 2009 © Jenn Warren

2009
MSF Re-Opens Programs in Afghanistan

Following a five year absence (see 2004), the organization returns to the country and begins supporting hospitals in Kabul and in Lashkargah, the capital of Helmand Province.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

Photo: Afghanistan 2009 © Pascale Zintzen /MSF

2009
Conflict in Gaza

MSF supports hospitals in Gaza following an Israeli offensive launched to counter militants firing crude rockets into Israel. After a ceasefire is announced, MSF opens a surgical hospital and also offers post-operative and psychological care.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

2009
Chaos in Pakistan’s Tribal Regions

Amid worsening violence and widespread displacement in Pakistan’s northern provinces, MSF provides emergency care at 12 sites. Security remains a constant concern, however, and some work is suspended after two staff members are killed in the Swat District.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

2008
Fighting Cholera in Zimbabwe

After an cholera outbreak starts in August, MSF treats more than 65,000 people suffering from the disease over the next 10 months while also supporting government-run facilities with supplies, staff incentive payments, and treatment programs.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

2008
Nutritional Crisis in Ethiopia

MSF treats more than 72,000 malnourished children as a massive nutritional crisis sweeps the south of the country as a result of drought, poor harvests, and soaring food prices.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

2008
Xenophobic Violence Uproots Tens of Thousands in South Africa

MSF provides medical assistance to thousands of Zimbabweans and other foreign African nationals when angry gangs attack them, killing 62 people and sending 100,000 more in search of safety. MSF speaks out against the inadequate response of both the South African government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Learn more about MSF’s history at our website.

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