Médecins Sans Frontières Belgium

About Médecins Sans Frontières Belgium

Doctors and journalists were shocked by the horror during the Biafran independence war (in Nigeria). Because they not only wanted to help, but also to testify about what they saw, they founded a new organization in 1971: Doctors Without Borders. Today we are an international organization, with hundreds of projects in dozens of countries, but our mission has not changed. Our teams do everything they can to care for victims of wars, disasters, and epidemics. We are still outraged when people cannot receive the medical care they need, and we still believe it is important that we can publicize that outrage. To be able to do that, we ensure that we are independent of all possible political, economic, military, or religious powers. Our funding comes from private individuals for 98.5%, which allows us to decide entirely for ourselves where to provide aid. We are neutral and have only one interest: that of our patients. And the weaker and more vulnerable the patient, the harder we fight for them. In our field hospital, in our operating room, in our mobile aid station - and if necessary, also on the public platform. Doctors Without Borders received recognition in 1999 with the Nobel Peace Prize. The award applies not only to our medical work, but especially to our actions as advocates for populations in need. We spent the prize money on an international campaign for affordable medicines for the poorest populations in the world.