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WE ARE MSF

We are Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders.

We are an international humanitarian organisation providing lifesaving care when and where it matters.

Founded in 1971 by doctors and journalists, we are an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation delivering emergency aid and medical care to people affected by armed conflict, natural disasters, epidemics, pandemics, and exclusion from healthcare. We offer assistance to people based on need and irrespective of race, religion, creed, political affiliation, gender or sexual orientation.

In 1999, MSF was a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of our pioneering humanitarian work in several continents.

WE ARE A GLOBAL MOVEMENT

MSF is a worldwide movement made up of tens of thousands of health professionals, logistics and supply experts, and administrative staff – bound together by our passion to help people in need. We run over 440 projects in more than 70 countries, including those in the Southeast and East Asia Pacific region: the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The office in Hong Kong is the nearest partner section in the region that recruits field workers from Southeast Asia, raises awareness about global humanitarian issues, and helps in identifying gaps and needs during emergencies.

In 2018, we had 47,318 MSF staff worldwide. About 84% are staff hired locally in the countries of intervention, 8% are international or expatriate staff, and 8% represent staff working at headquarters and offices.

TOGETHER, WE CAN SAVE LIVES

In an emergency, every second counts. Help us rapidly reach vulnerable women, children, and men forced to flee from violence or trapped in the aftermath of a disaster.

We rely on a strong network of a broad range of professionals in delivering lifesaving medical aid. Join our hardworking teams present in over 70 countries.

Visit our website, follow our social media channels, talk to us, and spread the word about people and communities who need attention and support. These small acts go a long way in helping those in need.

Your support guarantees our independence and allows us to provide lifesaving care to people in most need.

WE PUT PATIENTS FIRST

Our patients are at the heart of our operations. We prioritise people in distress and immediate danger. We seek to alleviate human suffering, to protect life, and promote health and well-being. We also provide mental health care to help our patients deal with the trauma they may have endured.

WE PROVIDE QUALITY MEDICAL CARE

We are committed to providing high quality medical care despite challenging settings and limited resources. We treat our patients with dignity, and with respect for their cultural and religious beliefs.

WE RESPOND FAST

MSF has highly efficient emergency teams ready to provide rapid relief and lifesaving care to people and communities in distress. MSF is able to deliver supplies and deploy specialised teams anywhere in the world within 72 hours.

We offer basic healthcare services, rehabilitate and run hospitals and health clinics, perform surgery, and improve the access to health services for women, children, displaced and any other group of vulnerable people. We make sources of safe and clean drinking water available to communities, which is essential for their survival and the prevention of outbreaks, together with vector control activities and mass vaccination campaigns.

WE SPEAK OUT

MSF speaks out to improve the health and situation of our patients, especially if they are in immediate danger. We advocate for patients affected by serious acts of violence, neglected crises, or obstruction of access to health care services.

MSF, through its Access Campaign, works to secure access to affordable medicines, diagnostics and vaccines, and to stimulate medical innovation that responds to public health needs.

WE ARE FINANCIALLY INDEPENDENT AND TRANSPARENT

In 2018, 95% of MSF’s income came from 6.3 million individual private donors worldwide. Support from these individuals and public institutions enables us to make independent assessments and rapid decisions to intervene in a crisis.

WE PROVIDE ASSISTANCE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

MSF runs over 440 projects in more than 70 countries worldwide, and some of them are in Southeast Asia, having extended our core work in the region.

We have been present in Southeast Asia for years: in Indonesia since 1995, in Malaysia since 2004, and in the Philippines since 1984, and in Singapore since 2015.

INDONESIA

MSF started its medical operations in Indonesia in 1995, following a massive earthquake in Jambi Province, Central Sumatra. Since then, MSF provided medical treatment services in many other provinces across the country until its end of programme in 2009.

In 2015, MSF collaborated with the Crisis Centre of the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Aceh government in responding to Rohingya refugees. MSF delivered mental health support and psychosocial activities for the refugees. In 2016 up to February 2017, MSF mobilised medical response for those affected by the earthquake in Aceh. MSF also delivered psychosocial education and psychological first aid training to the health staff and cadres in health clinics.

The current focus of the MSF Mission in Indonesia is adolescent reproductive health, as covered by the Memorandum of Understanding inked between the Mission and the Department of Family Health, an agency of the Indonesian Ministry of Health.

In 2017 until 2018, MSF and the Jakarta Province Health Agency conducted trainings on reproductive health to teachers and students of elementary schools in Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands). Also starting 2017, MSF has been conducting trainings for methanol poisoning in three cities; Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and Surabaya. In 2018, MSF started the implementation of a youth health programme in the sub-districts of Labuan and Carita, in Banten Province.

Also in 2018, MSF mobilised emergency medical response for those affected by the triple disasters of earthquake, tsunami and liquefaction in Central Sulawesi; and the tsunami that hit Sunda Strait which affected Banten and Lampung provinces. MSF covered Pandeglang District as the organisation has presence in the area due to the adolescent health project in Banten Province.

MALAYSIA

MSF has been providing healthcare to stateless Rohingya and other refugee communities in the Malaysian state of Penang since 2015. In 2018, we ran 45 mobile clinics, which together performed a total of 3,500 medical consultations. Our teams also conducted health education sessions in learning centres for refugee children, raising awareness about health issues such as dengue and general personal hygiene, and distributing hygiene kits.

In October 2018, we inaugurated a fixed primary healthcare clinic in a Penang neighbourhood where many undocumented migrants and refugees reside. By the end of December 2018, the clinic had already carried out 1,800 consultations and made 113 referrals. In addition, 780 patients received mental health education, psychosocial support and/or counselling.

We also extended our provision of healthcare to at-risk groups such as survivors of human trafficking. Our teams work in five of the government protection shelters for survivors of trafficking in Kuala Lumpur, Negeri Sembilan and Johor Bahru. We run mobile clinics, make referrals to government health services and donate medicines.

Having identified a particular gap in mental healthcare, primarily due to the language barriers faced by survivors of trafficking of more than 10 different nationalities, in 2018 we started providing psychosocial and counselling services to survivors in their native languages.

PHILIPPINES

MSF has run projects in 11 different regions in the country, including the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). MSF has been supporting a local organisation, Likhaan Center for Women’s Health, in providing reproductive health services in Tondo slums since 2016. This includes a first-of-its-kind mobile clinic dedicated for cervical cancer prevention, screening, and treatment.

Our teams have also responded to the displacements in the aftermath of the 2017 Marawi siege. In the emergency phase, we provided psychosocial care to kids and adults, and set up clean water sources and distributed hygiene kits. At present, we work closely with the City Health Office in running a primary health care center in Marawi City.

In the 1990s, MSF had projects in Manila and Davao City. We were in Davao City for six years for a tuberculosis control project, and for an STI and HIV/AIDS prevention and control project from 1996 to 1999. In Manila, we provided health services to street children from 1992 to 2005. We spent the 2000’s delivering repeated humanitarian assistance and medical care to families affected by armed conflicts in Mindanao (1997 to 2009), then continued to send emergency teams during a series of typhoons and floods in Metro Manila, its nearby provinces, as well as in Mindanao from 2010 onwards.

The Philippines experienced its worst year of disasters in recent history in 2013. MSF responded by launching one of its largest humanitarian responses that year in multiple areas devastated by typhoon Yolanda. The same year, MSF also provided medical donations in response to the Zamboanga crisis.

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