Thank You For Your Commitment to MSF

January 9, 2009

This article is part of the Winter 2008 issue of the MSF Alert newsletter.

Four-year-old Sheleme, above, is one of the 28,000 severely malnourished patients MSF treated between May and September in southern Ethiopia. When Sheleme’s mother brought her and her twin sister, Kutuba, into MSF’s stablization center in Kuyera, Oromiya region, Sheleme’s face, legs, and feet were swollen. She had developed kwashiorkor, an extremely severe stage of malnutrition. Both girls had no appetite, a symptom typical of their condition. After nine days of treatment, Shemele’s swelling was gone, and she and her sister had regained their appetites. The twins had recovered enough to go home with their mother, carrying a week’s worth of nutrient-rich, ready-to-use food.

The year 2008 was extraordinary for the number of emergencies that occurred. Your support made it possible for MSF teams to bring humanitarian assistance to millions of people in crises across the globe.

With your help, we will continue to provide independent and impartial medical care to the people who need it the most in 2009—whoever and wherever they are—and to be advocates for those whose voices are not heard. Thank you.