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Fall 2008

MSF Responds to Severe Malnutrition

© Francois Dumont/MSF

In May, MSF emergency teams found extremely high numbers of children under age five who were severely malnourished in southern Ethiopia. By May 13, MSF had begun an emergency nutritional intervention that continued to grow along with the increasing numbers of patients.

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MSF Assists People Hit by Successive Storms

Between August 16 and September 1, Haiti was ravaged by Tropical Storm Fay, Hurricane Gustav, Tropical Storm Hanna, and Hurricane Ike. On September 4, a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) emergency team of medical staff, logisticians, and water and sanitation experts began arriving in the northwestern city of Gonaïves, which had been particularly hard-hit.

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Humanitarian Issues - Famine and Ideology

MSF recently published From Ethiopia to Chechnya: Reflections on Humanitarian Action, 1988-1999, a collection of essays from François Jean (1956-1999). “Famine and Ideology” is an excerpt from this collection.

Dangerous Migration: Somali and Ethiopian Refugees Risk Everything to Leave

Every year, thousands of Somalis and Ethiopians risk their lives crossing the Gulf of Aden to Yemen. Hoping to escape the conflict and extreme poverty in their own countries, these desperate passengers are regularly abused and sometimes killed by the brutal smugglers they pay to get them across.

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Treating Women and Girls with Fistulas

In 2007 a group of 11 women suffering from vesico-vaginal (VVF) fistulas approached MSF nurse Esther Moring and her medical team in eastern Chad, asking for treatment. In order to help those women and countless others with fistulas in eastern Chad, Moring and an MSF team initiated a pilot fistula surgery program. Here, Moring describes what fistulas are and why starting this project was so important.

Taking the Plunge: Pooling Patents Could Help Get Urgently Needed New Medicines

A patent-sharing scheme that helped the United States build planes during World War I now could help drug manufacturers create new, urgently needed medicines.

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Alert Fall 2008

Alert
Fall 2008
Vol. 11 No. 9

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Snapshot: MSF at the 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City

MSF presented medical data from its HIV/AIDS treatment programs around the world at the 17th International AIDS Conference (IAC) in Mexico City

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Upcoming Events & Fundraising News

MSF Featured in “Battle in Seattle” Film

The film “Battle in Seattle”, which opened in theaters in September, dramatizes MSF’s advocacy effort at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) 1999 ministerial meeting in Seattle. While recounting the protests at the WTO meeting, it also describes the actions of Dr. Bernard Pécoul, then director of MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, who urged the WTO to prioritize public health when regulating trade of essential medicines for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and sleeping sickness. The cast includes Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, and Ray Liotta. More information is at battleinseattlemovie.com.

In 2008 Doctors Without Borders Medical Teams Responded to an Unprecedented Number of Crises

This past year has been an extraordinary year for emergency response, and our medical teams plan to continue to respond where the humanitarian needs are greatest in 2009 and beyond. Natural disasters, food crises, and the long-term needs of our patients with HIV/AIDS and other diseases are not going to go away overnight, and we need your support more than ever to continue to deliver live-saving emergency care.

MSF recognizes these are extraordinary economic times. As a strong supporter of MSF’s work, please renew your giving so that we can enter 2009 knowing that the organization can continue our lifesaving work, responding immediately and effectively where people need us the most.

Strengthen Your Commitment

MSF would like to thank all of our donors who have pledged to our Multiyear Initiative. With their annual commitments of $5,000 or more, these generous supporters provide MSF with predictable and sustainable funds, enabling us to respond effectively and rapidly to emergencies around the world and helping us to better plan for the future. To date, we have received pledges totaling $18,716,625 towards the initiative. To find out how you can pledge a gift over a three- to five year period of time, please contact Mary Sexton, director of major gifts, at (212) 655-3781.