Garo Serpekian

Médecins Sans Frontières (Switzerland)

For almost 50 years, Médecins Sans Frontières has been providing medical assistance to people caught up in crises that threaten their survival: mainly armed conflicts, but also epidemics, pandemics, natural disasters or lack of access to healthcare. All these situations require specially adapted medical and logistical resources. Independent of all political, religious and military powers, after assessing a given population's medical needs, MSF acts with impartiality. More than 97% of MSF's funding is provided by private donors, which ensures the organization's operational independence and flexibility. Abiding by the same charter, the various MSF teams are made up of medical, logistical and administrative personnel of dozens of different nationalities, including expatriates and local staff. They provide aid in accordance with the principles of humanitarian action and medical ethics. This medical action is indissociable from the work of bearing witness, which is linked to our field activities. We speak out publicly with the aim of bringing crises out of the shadows, alerting opinion to abuses committed away from the cameras, criticizing shortcomings in the aid system or denouncing the diversion of aid from its primary objective to serve political interests. The Swiss section of Médecins Sans Frontières was founded in 1981. Operational Centre Geneva employs approximately 300 people, with offices in Geneva and Zurich. In 1999, MSF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.