Providing medical relief worldwide, bearing witness and speaking out.

Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders or MSF) delivers emergency aid to victims of armed conflict, epidemics, and natural and manmade disasters, as well as to others who lack health care because of social or geographical isolation.

MSF was founded in 1971 by a small group of French doctors who believed that medical needs supersede respect for national borders. It was the first nongovernmental organization to both provide emergency medical assistance and publicly bear witness to the plight of the populations it serves. Today, the organization uses its Web site as a tool for informing, advocating, fundraising and recruiting.

Through MSF, each year more than 2,500 volunteer doctors, nurses, other medical professionals, logistics experts, water/sanitation engineers and administrators join 15,000 locally hired staff to provide medical aid in more than 80 countries. Its volunteers protest violations of humanitarian law on behalf of populations who have no voice, and they bring the concerns of their patients to public forums such as the United Nations, governments (in both home and project countries) and the media.

www.doctorswithoutborders.org