Diary of a Real Humanitarian

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

MSF is an international medical humanitarian organization working in more than 60 countries to assist people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or natural disasters.

I chose MSF for this month’s spotlight because they work with a variety of humanitarian issues and do not neglect past projects when a new large issue arises.  They also respond to chronic ongoing problems (hunger, psychological, disease, and violence) and take a long term approach to humanitarian aid. 

During the quake in Japan, MSF was one of the first relief groups at the site providing aid.  Later they publicly stated that they would not be accepting donations specifically for Japan.

Dir. of Development, Jennifer Tierney, explained why MSF would not be accepting restricted funds for Japan (via Twitter). Listen on NPR: http://n.pr/i4dNYf

Rather they accept money and resource donations to MSF as a whole so they are able to allocate funds as needed to all of their field work.  This is a good idea because it prevents them from playing on the emotions of donors, like many organizations do if a crisis happens in one area.  This also allows there to be an even distribution of funds for past or forgotten causes.

MSF working with psychologists and Japanese earthquake survivors to treat long-term effects of quake devastation (via Doctors Without Borders).