Medecins Sans Frontieres Flashcards
Founded when and by who
1971, 13 journalists and doctors
How many countries involved now
Over 160
Aim
To provide impartial and independent aid in disasters based on internal medical ability evaluation
Epicentre
Affiliate organisation to provide field project epidemiological expertise
What do they do
Emergency response (e.g. inflatable hospitals), improve medical practice (new malnutrition treatment models), temoignage (public advocacy e.g. UN peacekeepers abandoned 1995 Srebrenica massacre)
What % funds from individual private donors or institutions
98%
How much raised in 2023
$2.5b
1975
First large scale medical programme in Cambodian refugee crisis but many issues e.g. lacks support
1979
Move beyond sending doctors to crises, cofounder leaves to start Medecins du Monde
2006
La Mancha agreement to improve governance and decision making
What prize did they win
1999 Nobel Peace Prize
Example of them being independent
Stopped taking EU funds in 2016 due to migration policies
Example of them being fast and topical
Arrived within 72 hours of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami
Example of them being innovative
Noma response
Example of them being holistic
Education campaigns with Tom Brown food
Cons
Self-determined intervention, rely on public, dangerous e.g. Anka tension, limited political impact e.g. requested Srebrenica military intervention but little impact
In Nigeria since when
1996
Why
NE insurgency for 13y, health and nutrition crisis, accounts for 10% global maternal deaths (UNICEF), issues with noma as immune systems weakened by malnutrition
How many staff in 2023
Over 3000
How much spent in 2023
74.4m euros spent
Action against disease
A project with a local foundation for basic healthcare at community level in hard to reach areas outside Maiduguri city
Action against malaria
Carried out preventative activities and called for mass vaccination
Action against noma
Supported Noma Children’s Hospital and National Noma Control Plan for awareness, advocated for inclusion in WHO’s Neglected Tropical Diseases list
Action against malnutrition
Worst in NW so 32 outpatient and 10 inpatient therapeutic feeding centres, community led cooking classes for Tom Brown method, teams forced to withdraw from an inpatient nutrition centre in Anka
Action for gender
2023: opened a women’s health clinic for mothers of malnourished children, offered SGBV victim care in 4 towns, support surgery at Jahun hospital for conditions like obstetric fistula
