MUNCH charity spotlight: Medecins sans frontieres | Doctors without borders
In 1967, the Republic of Biafra declared its independence from Nigeria and attempted to secede. The Nigerian military responded by forming a blockade around the region during the civil war.
When it came to this issue, global allegiance was divided. The United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the United States were all supportive of Nigeria, while France was one of the only major countries to be in support of Biafra. This global partisanship and the effect it had on things like media representation and aid meant that the conditions inside the blockade were unknown to much of the wider world.
A small number of French doctors and journalists volunteered with the French Red Cross to work in hospitals and aid centers within the Biafra blockade. These aid workers were subject to attacks, witnessed atrocities, and felt that the global political lines drawn were hindering their efforts to help those in need of the most urgent care and support.
This group of doctors concluded that a new aid organization was needed that did not consider political/religious boundaries and solely prioritized the welfare of victims. That organisation is Medecins sans frontieres.
Who are Medecins sans frontieres?
Medecins sans frontieres an international, medical humanitarian organization that operates in more than 70 countries around the world. Their medical teams work in conflict zones, in response to natural disasters and epidemics. Their mandate is to go where they are needed. MSF provides free medical care to people who need it most, regardless of creed, colour, or political affiliation. All that matters is they are human beings in need.
For MSF, this is the humanitarian act: to seek to relieve suffering, to seek to restore autonomy, to witness to the truth of injustice, and to insist on political responsibility.
DR JAMES ORBINSKI | FORMER MSF PRESIDENT
MSF UK is an English Charity with the Reg. №1026588. They have been in operation since 1971 and in 1991 the organization was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize “in recognition of the organization’s pioneering humanitarian work on several continents”.
How can MUNCH support them?
As always, if selected, all donations from MUNCH transaction fees, staking rewards, and Charity Circle donations will be routed automatically and trustlessly directly to the charity. MUNCH is never in custody of the funds and the charity receives 100% of donations allotted to them.
How will these donations be used?
In order to operate in the neutral way they do, Medecins sans frontieres needs to fiercely maintain their independence, neutrality, and impartiality. This means MSF rarely takes money from the government; 100% of our donations come from private donors, such as the MUNCH community.
Money donated to MSF is banked and then directed to the country where the need is greatest. This is coordinated across the 23 MSF offices and our projects in over 70 countries.
MSF operates a very efficient charitable model with just 2% of donations used for administrative costs. 12% of donations are reinvested in fundraising efforts — for every $1 of which generates a return of $8.11 in donations. The rest of the donations goes to healthcare. None of the funds we send to the frontline is spent on international administration costs. This means 86% of every donation goes directly to people in urgent need via healthcare, food, or aid.
Médecins Sans Frontières are mostly known for responding when an emergency dominates the news, such as an earthquake, tsunami, or conflict.
But, they also work tirelessly to deliver humanitarian aid projects including long-term medical programs — which can stretch over decades. These can be projects to give people access to health care and combat diseases that need long-term treatment, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and neglected tropical diseases like sleeping sickness.
MSF currently provides humanitarian support all around the world. MSF is active in a large number of African countries, sometimes serving as the sole provider of healthcare, food, and water for entire regions. MSF helps with the humanitarian crisis caused by the Yemeni Civil War, conducts counseling sessions, and has set up an operating theatre for reconstructive orthopedic surgery, and supplied specialist surgeons in Sri Lanka.
The list is long and money donated by MUNCH to MSF will undoubtedly have a profound impact wherever it is sent. As MSF is impartial and neutral, the MUNCH project has expressed no influence where donations from our community would be used.
To cast your vote to support MSF as our next charity of choice, click here.
Pitch video: https://youtu.be/s3AwASnjLmg
