Why I fell in love with Doctors Without Borders
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This past Sunday I had a chance to experience the Doctors Without Borders exhibition called Forced From Home about the global refugee crisis. It hits cities for only 7 days at time, with Oakland being its second to last stop for the year.
Doctors Without Borders (also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters, and exclusion from health care. Among other services, MSF sets up hospitals in refugee camps, helps women give birth safely, vaccinates children to prevent epidemics, and provides access to safe drinking water.
The interactive, outdoor exhibit was incredibly designed — with 360 video, virtual reality and materials collected from missions around the world — and we were led through an hour long tour by an experienced MSF aid worker.
I have a close friend who works for MSF, and I even became a donor earlier this year, but I have to be honest: this exhibit made me realize how clueless I am about the issue.
Not only did I walk away inspired by the incredible work the organization is doing, I gained a much deeper understanding of the dire situation for more than 65 million displaced people around the world.
The exhibit is a must-see.
But what I’ve been most excited by since the tour is what I’ve learned about how Doctors Without Borders operates on behalf of the most vulnerable populations, even going so far as to stand up to pharmaceutical companies.
Here’s the highlight reel of their recent badassness (copied and pasted directly from here, if you’re wondering):
- Pneumonia is the leading cause of child mortality worldwide, killing nearly one million children every year. Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) are the only two manufacturers of the pneumonia vaccine and have priced the vaccine out of reach for many developing countries. MSF has tried to negotiate a lower price with Pfizer for years.
- After years of fruitless negotiations with both Pfizer and GSK for an affordable price, in 2015, MSF launched A Fair Shot, a public campaign calling on both pharmaceutical corporations to reduce the price of the pneumonia vaccine.
- In November 2016, following on a similar announcement made by GSK, Pfizer finally agreed to reduce the price for humanitarian organizations working in emergencies, such as MSF, to just over $9 per child (for all three doses).
- In April, MSF launched Your Stock Your Voice, a groundbreaking online tool that empowers people who may hold stock in Pfizer through their investments, including retirement funds, to demand change that could save lives. Through this platform, people can find out whether a given investment package includes shares of Pfizer, and if so, provides options for people to take action.
- On 27 April 2017, dozens of volunteers delivered a petition with the names of nearly 400,000 people to Pfizer global headquarters in New York, asking to reduce the price of the pneumonia vaccine to 5 dollars per child for all developing countries.
The action hasn’t yet yielded the result Doctors Without Borders is hoping for, but they continue to work hard on behalf of the millions of children in countries where parents and governments still can’t afford the vaccine.
And this is just one of the ways they are making an impact. It’s why I’ve fallen in love with the org and will continue to give them my coins.
I hope you will check out the exhibit if it hits your town and learn more on their website: forcedfromhome.com
Click HERE to read the rest of this week’s Above the Bottom Line newsletter.
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