Snapshot

January 31, 2011

This article is part of the Fall/Winter 2010 issue of the MSF Alert newsletter.

A boy holds his younger brother as he stands in a field in Gogrial, in southern Sudan. The people of southern Sudan will face a huge choice on January 9, when they vote in a referendum that could result in the birth of a new country.

The boy looks to be peering into the future, wondering what it holds. MSF must be ready to do the same wherever it works, including in southern Sudan, where it has operated through years of conflict, drought, and, at present, a massive outbreak of kala azar.

It is because people like this boy cannot know what lies ahead that MSF must be ready for whatever might be. MSF can do this in large part because it is generously supported by donors and because it is able to find exceptional candidates for its field missions. In 2010, a year that required MSF to respond to a host of predictable and unpredictable contexts, the organization is on pace to send out more than 340 US-based aid workers on more than 435 departures to 45 countries. Along with the national staff in the mission countries, these are the people who are ready to help those who need medical humanitarian assistance through whatever may come their way.

 

Tags: South Sudan