Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

Médecins Sans Frontières /Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in France in 1971. MSF today works in more than 60 countries, providing independent, impartial assistance to people threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters. The organization also speaks out to bring attention to neglected crises, challenge inadequacies or abuse of the aid system, and to advocate for improved medical treatments and protocols.

MSF's work is based on the humanitarian principles of medical ethics and impartiality. The organization is committed to bringing quality medical care to people in crisis regardless of their race, religion, or political affiliation. It similarly operates independent of any political, military, or religious agenda. The key to MSF’s ability to respond to crises is its independent funding. Ninety percent of MSF's overall funding (and 100 percent of MSF-USA's funding) comes from private, non-governmental sources.

MSF does not take sides in armed conflicts, provides care on the basis of need alone, and pushes for increased independent access to victims of conflict as required under international humanitarian law. MSF medical teams on the ground are in constant dialogue with local authorities, warring parties, and other aid agencies to reinforce their operational independence and to deliver the best possible medical care to people in need.

MSF is also a leader in treating people living with HIV/AIDS and many otherwise neglected diseases. Through its Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, and in collaboration with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, MSF has helped lower the price of HIV/AIDS treatment and has stimulated research and development for medicines to treat malaria, and diseases like sleeping sickness, kala azar and chagas.

On any given day, more than 27,000 committed individuals representing dozens of nationalities are providing assistance to people caught in crises around the world. They are doctors, nurses, midwives, logistics experts, administrators, epidemiologists, laboratory technicians, and mental health professionals.

MSF received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

Patricia Krebs, Fulbright Association President; Francis Gatluak, MSF Coordinator; and Dr. Unni Karunakara, MSF International President. The Prize was presented to MSF on September 8, 2012 at the Library of Congress.

Photograph by John Harrington

Francis Gatluak, MSF Coordinator at the Leer Hospital in South Sudan, was one of the first people to be treated by MSF for Kala Azar, a neglected disease. Francis now works for the organization that once saved his life. To see more of Francis' story and the work MSF does in treating neglected diseases, click below to view "The Patient Becomes the Healer."