Source description last updated: 17 March 2021

In brief: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) is an independent international humanitarian organisation working to provide medical and other assistance to people in need worldwide.

Coverage on ecoi.net:

Articles, press releases and reports

Covered weekly on ecoi.net, for countries of priorities A, B and C.

Mission/Mandate/Objectives:

“Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was founded in 1971 in France by a group of doctors and journalists in the wake of war and famine in Biafra, Nigeria. Their aim was to establish an independent organisation that focuses on delivering emergency medicine aid quickly, effectively and impartially.” (MSF website: Who we are, undated)

MSF is “a non-profit, self-governed, member-based organisation” which, as set out in its charter, “provides assistance to populations in distress, to victims of natural or man-made disasters and to victims of armed conflict. They do so irrespective of race, religion, creed or political convictions. Médecins Sans Frontières observes neutrality and impartiality in the name of universal medical ethics and the right to humanitarian assistance and claims full and unhindered freedom in the exercise of its functions. Members undertake to respect their professional code of ethics and maintain complete independence from all political, economic or religious powers.“ (MSF website: Who we are, undated)

“MSF’s actions are first and foremost medical. [...] When medical assistance alone is not enough, we may provide shelter, water and sanitation, food or other services” (MSF website: Who we are, undated).

“[T]he principles of impartiality and neutrality are not synonymous with silence. When MSF witnesses extreme acts of violence against individuals or groups, the organisation may speak out publicly.” (MSF Belgium website: MSF Charter and Principles, undated)

Funding:

“In 2019, more than 6.5 million individual donors and private institutions (private companies and foundations) provided 96.2 per cent of the €1.63 billion raised. Our funding relies largely on individuals donating small amounts.” (MSF website: Reports and finances, undated)

Scope of reporting:

Geographic focus: all countries

Thematic focus: armed conflict, natural disasters, endemic and epidemic disease, migration, social violence and healthcare exclusion

Methodology:

Primary data for MSF reports may be collected through semi-structured interviews, focus-group discussions (see, for example, MSF: Reality check: Afghanistan's neglected healthcare crisis, March 2020, p. 4), testimonies provided by persons of concern (see, for example, MSF: No way out; The humanitarian crisis for migrants and asylum seekers trapped between the United States, Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Central America, 11 February 2020, p. 7) as well as surveys based on questionnaires (see, for example, MSF: Reality check: Afghanistan's neglected healthcare crisis, March 2020, p. 4 and MSF: No way out; The humanitarian crisis for migrants and asylum seekers trapped between the United States, Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Central America, 11 February 2020, pp. 7–8). Sources of information obtained through these means may be patients, caretakers and staff workers at healthcare facilities operated by MSF (see, for example, MSF: Reality check: Afghanistan's neglected healthcare crisis, March 2020, p. 4, MSF: No way out; The humanitarian crisis for migrants and asylum seekers trapped between the United States, Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Central America, 11 February 2020, p. 7 and MSF: Complicated Delivery; The Yemeni mothers and children dying without medical care, April 2019, p. 6), migrants at shelters (see, for example, MSF: No way out; The humanitarian crisis for migrants and asylum seekers trapped between the United States, Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Central America, 11 February 2020, pp. 7–8) or humanitarian actors, IDPs, UN staff and local officials (see, for example, MSF: Unprotected: Summary of internal review on the October 31st events in Batangafo, Central African Republic, February 2019, p. 5). In addition, MSF reports are also informed by desk research in public sources. Both empirical data and information obtained from public sources may be referenced by means of footnotes (see, for example, MSF: Reality check: Afghanistan's neglected healthcare crisis, March 2020, MSF: No way out; The humanitarian crisis for migrants and asylum seekers trapped between the United States, Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Central America, 11 February 2020 and MSF: Complicated Delivery; The Yemeni mothers and children dying without medical care, April 2019).

Language(s) of publications:

English, French, Spanish and other languages

Further reading / links:

Fox, R: Doctors Without Borders: Humanitarian Quests, Impossible Dreams of Médecins Sans Frontières, 2014
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283135481_Doctors_without_borders_Humanitarian_quests_impossible_dreams_of_medecins_sans_frontieres

International Review of the Red Cross: Médecins Sans Frontières and the ICRC: matters of principle [Volume 94 Number 888 Winter 2012], 31 December 2012
https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/review/2013/irrc-888-brauman.pdf (accessed 17 March 2021)

Nobel Foundation: The Nobel Peace Prize 1999
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1999/

Redfield, Peter: Life in Crisis: The Ethical Journey of Doctors Without Borders, 2013
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520274853

Austrian section: https://www.aerzte-ohne-grenzen.at/  
German section: https://www.aerzte-ohne-grenzen.de/

 

All links accessed 26 February 2021 (except where stated otherwise).