Aid Workers

A young woman from Syria starts a new life in Turkey after being shot by a sniper.

A year ago today,  Philippe Havet and Andrias Karel Keiluhu were killed while delivering emergency medical assistance in Somalia.

MSF's Colette Kerr and Nick Lawson speak about the challenges of reaching people in need in the midst of armed conflicts in a panel discussion on "Think Out Loud," an Oregon Public Broadcasting radio program.

MSF volunteers provided medial assistance to several hundred people in the tri-state area following Hurricane Sandy.

Fighting in Aden forced MSF to suspend medical operations and call for greater respect for medical facilities, even amid Yemen's ongoing strife.

Following weeks of no new cases, MSF is set to close an emergency cholera intervention in Somalia's Middle Shabelle region.

In late March 2012, an MSF team crossed the Turkish border into Syria in an effort to provide medical aid in the Idlib region.

Wounded people and medical workers remain targeted and threatened in parts of Syria, preventing people from receiving life-saving emergency medical care.

MSF suspended activities in its recently-opened maternity hospital in Afghanistan's Khost Province after an explosion inside the compound injured seven people, including one child.

MSF condemns intimidation against humanitarian aid workers working in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, after its compound was robbed and staff threatened yesterday.

Kirrily de Polnay, an MSF doctor working in South Sudan's Jamam refugee camps talks about the situation, the patients, and the nature of working in fast evolving emergency.

Recent attacks on aid workers and the ongoing abduction of two colleagues in Somalia jeopordize life-saving medical projects and must be condemned in the strongest terms.

It is with great sadness that MSF confirms that two of its staff members were killed Thursday morning as a result of a shooting at an MSF compound in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) was founded four decades ago by doctors and journalists returning from a devastating famine in Biafra, Nigeria, where thousands of children had been denied access to food during a brutal civil war. There was a need, they believed, for an organization that could both dispense emergency medical services and also speak out about the reasons why such treatment was necessary in the first place.

Disassociating itself from armed activities and related declarations following the abduction, MSF is engaging with all relevant actors to seek a safe resolution.

A driver was injured and two medical staff are missing after an attack on their vehicle in Dadaab, Kenya, on October 13.

An MSF driver was injured and two MSF staff were abducted in Dadaab, Kenya, during an incident on October 13. A crisis team has been set up to find a rapid and safe resolution.

MSF staff recently returned from Mogadishu discuss what they saw there and the issues the humanitarian response to the ongoing crisis must address.

MSF condemns the armed raid of its premises in Bahrain on July 28 and the subsequent detention of one of its staff members.

Dr. Hussein Sheikh Qassim, MSF Medical Coordinator in Marere, southern Somalia, describes how violence and drought are driving people from their homes in search of care and shelter.

The United States government’s alleged misuse of a vaccination campaign in Pakistan for counter-terrorism purposes constitutes a dangerous abuse of medical care, MSF said today.

In 2010, the international aid system came under scrutiny in the media, sparked in great part by its responses to the crises in Haiti and other parts of the world. “Where is the money going?” became a common question from donors, reporters, politicians, and beneficiaries alike. The charge that humanitarian agencies are accountable to nobody, that they can support local war economies, and that, in the worst case, they do more harm than good was leveled in several forums—most pointedly in “The Crisis Caravan” by Dutch journalist Linda Polman, in reviews of her book, and in articles by journalists such as The New Yorker’s Philip Gourevitch, who used Polman’s book as an entry point for a broader critique of the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

Last year, a host of newspaper articles, blogs, and TV reports questioned the efficacy of the international aid system, particularly with regard to its role in the crises in Haiti and Pakistan. At Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), we welcome this debate. Some of the criticisms leveled are valid, some are not. But it’s a conversation that should be had.

As the war spreads and intensifies in Afghanistan and the humanitarian needs increase, it has become ever more dangerous for the Afghan people to receive assistance provided by military bodies or groups affiliated with them.

How can aid workers fulfill their humanitarian mission when they themselves are perceived as legitimate targets?

The space to provide neutral, independent, impartial humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan has been lost, and this is having dire consequences for the population

MSF doctor Sarah Carpenter has volunteered in Angola, Uganda and Darfur. She is featured in the "Making a Difference" series, which profiles Angelenos who have made careers in charitable work.

Alison Wong was the pharmacist for the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) HIV/AIDS program at Arua Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda from September 2005 to October 2006. MSF began the program in 2001 to provide antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to people in the region living with HIV. It has grown to include treatment for people co-infected with HIV and TB, and to establishing better decentralized care.