Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was founded 50 years ago on the belief that everyone has the right to medical care regardless of gender, race, religion, creed or political affiliation, and that people’s health and humanitarian needs outweigh respect for national boundaries. Our medical action is grounded in human-to-human connection; every day we live and reinforce our core principle of humanity as we help deliver babies, counsel people traumatized by war, vaccinate children against deadly diseases, mend wounds and treat tuberculosis. All the while, we refuse to remain silent about the inequities, abuse, violence and neglect that make our work necessary. And unfortunately, our work is no less necessary today than it was 50 years ago. 

That MSF continues to play a vital role in a world where human life is routinely neglected, instrumentalized and even destroyed for political or commercial gain brings no comfort. Yet as long as MSF is needed, we must be prepared to deliver our humanitarian support. This means we must continually adapt, reinvent and transform. 

MSF is larger than ever, operating in over 70 countries with over 60,000 staff conducting more than 10 million medical consultations per year. The contexts in which we operate are complex and, at times, hostile and the breadth of needs is wide. Meeting the evolving challenges of hands-on humanitarian work demands that we are a continuous learning organization. We must, for example, constantly (re)learn about the shifting, complex and dangerous routes migrants take so that we can offer the best assistance and speak out about the systemic failures causing their vulnerability. 

We are also adapting to the reality that climate change and environmental degradation are increasingly driving humanitarian need. This means we are more often applying a climate lens to our operations, and we are acting more environmentally responsible: better managing medical waste and reducing our carbon footprint. 

Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the constraints imposed by it, have also spurred changes. We are using the example of COVID-19 vaccine development and roll-out to highlight the brokenness of a pharmaceutical sector that puts profits before public health. We envision an alternate model in which publicly funded medical research leads to available, accessible and affordable public goods. 

“That MSF continues to play a vital role in a world where human life is routinely neglected, instrumentalized and even destroyed for political or commercial gain brings no comfort. Yet as long as MSF is needed, we must be prepared to deliver our humanitarian support.”

COVID-19 has also helped fast-track changes to our staffing model. We are now empowering locally recruited staff more than ever, partly in response to COVID-19 travel constraints and as part of a deeper commitment to redress the impact of structural inequities within MSF. In that regard, we are taking a hard look at how we can be a more diverse, equitable and inclusive organization, for example in recruitment, remuneration, leadership representation, as well as in how we engage with local communities and communicate with the Canadian public. 

As we mark MSF’s 50th year, we reaffirm the principle of humanity as the driving force that compels all who are part of this movement — the communities we work with, our staff, and supporters like you who make it possible — to act wherever we are most needed in defense of life, health and dignity.