Ready to respond: A letter from our CEO

As I prepare to pass the baton, I’m confident MSF will remain ready to respond and adapt.

May 8, 2025

Avril Benoît, CEO of MSF USA

Avril Benoît, CEO of MSF USA | United States of America 2019 © Britta Olson/MSF

By Avril Benoît, chief executive officer of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) USA

I’m preparing to pass the baton to a new CEO of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) USA later this year. It’s been the honor of my life to lead and serve MSF USA since 2019, steering critical support for our global medical humanitarian operations. At MSF offices around the world, we maintain a healthy custom for top leaders to step away after serving roughly six years. This regular opportunity for leadership renewal helps make space for fresh perspectives and keeps our organization nimble.

Of course, I’ll remain a part of the MSF movement in my heart—as MSF will always be a part of me. I first joined the organization 19 years ago, and this incredible journey has taken me to Haiti, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo, and many more countries.

Some of the biggest challenges facing our world have shaped my personal and professional evolution. I’m proud to have led MSF USA through a particularly momentous period, during which we responded to a global pandemic, relentless attacks on hospitals and health workers, the collapse of protections for refugees and asylum seekers, and the erosion of international humanitarian law and norms more broadly. Despite the challenges—and thanks to the generosity of our private donors across the country—we more than doubled funding for MSF’s life-saving medical operations.

The first 100 days of a growing global health and humanitarian emergency

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Now we are navigating the effects of sudden, unprecedented cuts to US foreign aid and the dismantling of crucial parts of the humanitarian aid system. MSF does not accept funding from the US government, and this financial independence helps ensure that we’re able to continue providing medical humanitarian aid in more than 70 countries. But we work in many parts of the world—in conflict zones, refugee camps, disaster areas, and other places where access to health care is limited—hand-in-hand with people who are profoundly affected by these destructive cuts.

Historic levels of public support have bolstered our sense of purpose. As a former journalist for 20 years, I’m particularly grateful to see growing numbers of people respond to MSF’s commitment to bearing witness and speaking out about emergency needs. While this is a time of intense polarization in the US, we’ve also seen an incredible outpouring of generosity and compassion—which gives us strength.

MSF USA CEO Avril Benoit visits patients in Katsina, Nigeria. — Avril Benoît speaks to a patient in Katsina, in northwest Nigeria, where a 2024 MSF study found extremely critical levels of malnutrition. | Nigeria 2024 © Sarah Nuhu/MSF

Looking back, one of the early assignments that had the biggest impact on me was MSF’s response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Within days of the massive 7.0-magnitude quake struck the island, I flew to Port-au-Prince to serve as MSF’s emergency communications coordinator. The devastation was unbelievable. The quake killed more than 200,000 people, displaced millions, leveled whole neighborhoods, and destroyed roughly 60 percent of Haiti’s already struggling health system.

It was, at the time, one of MSF’s largest-ever emergency responses. In Haiti, I gained a deeper appreciation of the many pressures on the organization, but also the extraordinary skills, courage, and ingenuity of my MSF colleagues. I was so moved by that spirit of solidarity: people from many different walks of life choosing to use their talents to help others in crisis.

MSF was ready to respond when that earthquake struck because we were already on the ground in Haiti, where we’d been providing medical humanitarian aid since 1991. Our independence meant we didn’t have to wait for grants or approvals to start saving lives—we were already poised to help, thanks to our international movement of supporters.

That’s still true today, as MSF teams were ready to respond immediately to the powerful quake that struck Myanmar on March 28. MSF has been providing medical humanitarian aid in this southeast Asian country since 1992, assisting communities affected by conflict, forced displacement, and exclusion from health care. The Myanmar earthquake has gotten far less international attention so far, partly due to political circumstances and partly due to crisis fatigue. But we’ll continue to respond where the needs are greatest, regardless of the news cycle.

So, as we face the current shake-up to the international aid system, I’m confident that our humanitarian movement will remain ready to respond and adapt.

I’m grateful to our incredible staff at MSF USA, our colleagues across the global MSF movement, and our broad base of independent supporters for making this work possible—even when everything seems impossible. Together, we’re standing up for humanity.