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Médecins Sans Frontières (abbreviated MSF; known as Doctors Without Borders in the United States, as Médicos Sin Fronteras in the Spanish language and as Médicos Sem Fronteiras in Portuguese language) is a nonprofit private organisation created in 1971 by a small group of French doctors led by Bernard Kouchner. The organisation was founded in the belief that all people have the right to medical care and that their need is more important than national borders.
MSF provides medical care in case of emergency and for the treatment of endemic diseases. It is active in more than 80 countries worldwide, particularly in poor or third-world nations, and those in a state of war. MSF has frequently protested to the United Nations against atrocities on behalf of communities that lack official representations, such as the people of Chechnya and Kosovo.
MSF has received much recognition for its work, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. MSF consists of both volunteer and permanently employed staff and is funded by contributions from the general public, nonprofit organisations, corporations and governments.
Carlo Urbani was formerly the president of the group's Italian chapter; he died of severe acute respiratory syndrome in March 2003.
Dangers
Aside from injuries and death associated with war zones and epidemic areas, MSF sometimes faces dangers for political reasons, such as:
Arjan Erkel, head of MSF's Northern Caucasus mission, was kidnapped in the Russian republic of Dagestan and held hostage from August 12, 2002 until April 11, 2004.
On June 2, 2004, five workers were killed in an ambush near Khair Khana in Badghis province in Afghanistan: Afghans Fasil Ahmad and Besmillah, Belgian Helene de Beir, Norwegian Egil Tynaes, and Dutchman Willem Kwint. Mullah Abdul Hakim Latifi, a spokesman for the Taliban, took responsibility for the attack. On 28 July, MSF pulled out of Afghanistan because of this incident and other security issues. In their press statement the organisation criticised both the Taliban and the U.S. military [1] (http://www.msf.org/countries/page.cfm?articleid=8851DF09-F62D-47D4-A8D3EB1E876A1E0D). They criticised the Taliban for targeting aid workers and stated: "This threat undeniably constitutes a refusal by the Taliban to accept independent and impartial humanitarian action." Of the U.S. military, the press release said:
- "The violence directed against humanitarian aid workers has come in a context in which the US backed coalition has consistently sought to use humanitarian aid to build support for its military and political ambitions. MSF denounces the coalition's attempts to co-opt humanitarian aid and use it to 'win hearts and minds'. By doing so, providing aid is no longer seen as an impartial and neutral act, endangering the lives of humanitarian volunteers and jeopardizing the aid to people in need. Only recently, on May 12, 2004, MSF publicly condemned the distribution of leaflets by the coalition forces in southern Afghanistan in which the population was informed that providing information about the Taliban and al Qaeda was necessary if they wanted the delivery of aid to continue."
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