This column does not often use a press release as its major story, but sometimes something comes along that is so important that it cannot be overlooked by readers that are following public health issues.
There is an International organization headquartered in Belgium that has dedicated itself to humanitarian medical needs all over the globe. They have offices all over the world, including one in New York City. This organization is called Doctor's Without Borders. Their work, truly crossing over all borders, "operates independently of all governments, institutions, political, economic, or religious influences. It depends on volunteer health professionals in fulfilling its mission".
Ironically I found out about Doctor's Without Borders quite accidentally in researching an article which I will present next week. I found that these people are quite literally risking their own lives to put the needs of others ahead of their own needs. This is an organization that needs your attention and your help. 2,000 volunteers, of more than 45 nationalities, go to approximately 80 countries each year. Their work is something that this column will be following in the bulletins which can be found at on the front page. I hope you will follow their stories and will find a way to become involved. So many lives around the world, depend on it.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières Issues "Top Ten" List of the Year's Most Under-Reported Humanitarian Stories
Third Annual Listing Emphasizes Unremitting Violence Against Civilians in Chechnya, Angola, Colombia, Indonesia
January 15, 2001 -- Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today issued its third annual list of the most under-reported humanitarian stories of the year. The organization compiled the list to call attention to human crises that were largely ignored by the U.S. press during 2000.
"There has been a virtual blackout of international news during the final chapter in the presidential race, said Joelle Tanguy, executive director of the U.S. office of Doctors Without Borders. "But news of human suffering, from Chechnya to Indonesia, has been obscured by election coverage all year." She added, "It is unconscionable that in three presidential debates, including one ostensibly devoted to foreign affairs, not one of the issues on our list surfaced."
New items on this year's list included Nigeria's health care system, whose chaotic state poses enormous challenges for the new, democratic government; and Bangladesh's Rohingya refugees, members of a persecuted ethnic minority who fled Myanmar (Burma) in 1992 and now languish without a permanent home or nationality.
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