MSF Tanzania – Things You Need to Know

An International, Self-Sufficient Medical Humanitarian Association.

MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières] is an acronym that stands for DWB [Doctors Without Borders]. We provide healthcare assistance to individuals affected by epidemics, conflict, natural disasters, or healthcare exclusion. MSF Tanzania team members comprise hundreds of thousands of medical professionals, logisticians, and administrative personnel who are united by our charter. Medical morality, as well as the principles of objectivity, neutrality and independence, guide our actions. We’re a non-profit, member-governed organization.

A group of physicians and journalists founded MSF in Paris in 1971. We are now a global movement of well almost 65,000 people.

The MSF’s Charter

MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières] is a non-profit international organization. MSF Tanzania is primarily made up of doctors and healthcare workers, but it is open to all professions that can help it achieve its goals.

All its members have agreed to adhere to the following guidelines:

MSF Tanzania assists people in need, victims of artificial or natural disasters, and victims of actual war. Regardless of religion, race, creed, or political beliefs, they do so.

MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières] maintains neutrality and objectivity under the canopy of universal medical moral values and the absolute right to humanitarian relief. It claims complete and unrestricted freedom in carrying out its functions.

Members agree to follow their expert code of conduct and remain completely independent of all economic, political, and religious powers.

MSF Tanzania members are aware of the dangers and risks of the missions they undertake as volunteers and make no assumptions for themselves, nor do they allocate any type of reward other than what the association may be able to provide.

Complementary to the Constitution

In addition to the Constitution, two crucial documents explain MSF Tanzania working methods and ethical guidelines by delving into the concepts of patient proximity, quality healthcare, and bearing witness or témoignage.

Patients First

Medical Ethics Guide Our Actions

MSF Tanzania actions are primarily medical in nature. The concept of individual patient quality care is crucial to our humanitarian goal. We strive to supply high-quality healthcare while always acting in patients’ best interests, to honour their privacy, their moral right to make an informed decision, and, most importantly, not to harm them. When healthcare assistance is insufficient, we may offer shelter, sanitation and water, food, and other services.

Working Principle

1.  Impartiality
2.  Independence
3.  Neutrality
4.  Bearing witness
5.  Accountable and transparent

We help people based on their needs. It makes no difference where they are from, what religion they practice, or what political party they support. We give preference to people who are in the most life-threatening and imminent danger.

We are a worldwide movement with employees from more than 160 countries.

Around 65,000 Team Personnel

MSF Tanzania teams, which include medical personnel, logisticians, as well as administrative personnel, are our greatest asset. We employed more than 51,000 people locally in 2019, with thousands more on field assignments overseas.

Rendering Quality Care

MSF Tanzania rejects the notion that developing nations are entitled to third-rate healthcare coverage. We strive to deliver patients with high-quality healthcare and campaign for inexpensive, high-quality medications.

Personal Donation Support

MSF Tanzania rely on the generosity of over 7 million private donors worldwide. More than 97% of our funding comes from personal donations, enabling us to act quickly to save lives.

Our History

The Origin of MSF

Why we began

How did the MSF movement grow from a team of physicians to an international organization over the years? The animated movie, Once-Upon a Period, the MSF Organization, teaches about the origins of MFS’ or Doctors without borders and the key events in our history.

In the aftermath of famine and war in Biafra, Nigeria, a group of journalists and doctors founded MFS [Médecins Sans Frontières] in 1971 in France. Their goal was to create an independent organization dedicated to providing emergency medical assistance in a timely, effective, and impartial manner.

When the organization was founded, it consisted of 300 volunteers: nurses, medical doctors, and other supporting staff, including the thirteen founding journalists and doctors.

MSF Tanzania was founded on the ideology that every individual should have unlimited access to medical care regardless of religion, political connections, creed, race, or gender. That patient’s healthcare needs vastly exceed respect for territorial boundaries. Our organization’s charter, which serves as a guide for our day-to-day operations, outlines the principles guiding MSF’s work.

1971

A Constitution for the brand new MSF

MSF Tanzania was formally established on December 22, 1971. At the time, the organization was made up of 300 volunteers, including nurses and doctors, and other supporting staff, as well as the thirteen founding journalists and doctors.

1972

The first mission of MSF

MSF’s first official mission, in 1972, was in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, and came in the aftermath of an earthquake that destroyed 90 per cent of the city and brutally killed somewhere around 10,000 to 30,000 individuals.

1974

Honduras

MSF established a relief mission in Honduras in 1974 after the tropical storm [Hurricane Fifi] caused massive flooding and ended up killing thousands of individuals.

1975

Turning point

During a refugee scandal in 1975, MSF created the very first large healthcare program, providing healthcare to waves of Cambodians fleeing Pol Pot’s authoritarian rule. During these initial missions, MSF’s shortcomings as a brand new humanitarian organization became more clear: preparation is falling short, doctors are left vulnerable, and supply lines are tangled. This event signifies a turning point, and it begins to fracture the movement.

1976

Learning how to operate in a war zone

MSF has been available in Beirut as well as other major cities in Lebanon since 1976 to take care of all war-wounded people. Every day, the team takes care of patients who have been injured by bullets or shrapnel. Broken limbs, as well as burns, are also attended to. The medical teams’ equipment and resources are inadequate or insufficient; there is no way to do X-rays, electric instruments, ventilators, or the ability to conduct comprehensive medical exams. The ability to perform blood exchange is also restricted.

1979

Conflicting visions result in a split.

All through the 1970s, MSF Tanzania, led by Doctor. Claude Malhuret and Doctor. Francis Charhon moves away from sending physicians to crisis zones and toward establishing a more structured organization. Dr Bernard Kouchner, MSF’s co-founder, disagrees with the transformation and departs to found MMD ]Médecins du Monde.

1980

A transformation

From this point forward, MSF Tanzania new “realist” leadership, led by Dr Claude Malhuret & Rony Brauman, contributes to its transformation into the professional organization that it is today.

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