Doctors Without Borders
Doctors Without Borders
Doctors Without Borders (pronounced: Doc-tors With-out Bor-ders), also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (pronounced: Med-sans Fron-tee-air), is an international humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin best known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases.
Etymology
The name Doctors Without Borders is a direct translation of the French name Médecins Sans Frontières. The term was chosen to reflect the organization's commitment to providing medical care wherever it is needed, regardless of national borders or conflict lines.
History
Doctors Without Borders was founded in 1971 by a group of French doctors and journalists who were dissatisfied with the neutrality of the Red Cross during the Biafra secession in Nigeria. They believed that the Red Cross's neutrality was causing it to ignore the massive human rights abuses that were occurring in the conflict.
Work
Doctors Without Borders provides emergency medical care to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. Their teams are made up of tens of thousands of health professionals, logistic and administrative staff - bound together by MSF Charter. Their actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality.
Related Terms
- Humanitarian Aid
- Non-Governmental Organization
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
- Global Health
- Healthcare Access
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Doctors Without Borders
- Wikipedia's article - Doctors Without Borders
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