Doctors Without Borders

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History & Society

Doctors Without Borders

international organization

Also known as: Médecins Sans Frontières

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Mar 9, 2024 • Article History

Category: History & Society

French:: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Date:: 1971 - present

Headquarters:: Brussels

Areas Of Involvement:: medicine; humanitarianism

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Doctors Without Borders, international humanitarian group dedicated to providing medical care to people in distress, including victims of political violence and natural disasters. The populations the group assists typically lack access to or adequate resources for medical treatment. The group was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize for Peace. Doctors Without Borders was founded in 1971 by 13 physicians and journalists who were dissatisfied with the neutrality of the Red Cross. The founding members believed that people in distress had the right to medical intervention and that the need to provide assistance to those people transcended national borders. They also felt ...(100 of 289 words)

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