THE Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) also known as the “Doctors Without Borders”, an international medical humanitarian organization, is set to hold a two-day event Friday to Saturday, April 7 to 8, at A Space Cebu, Crossroads, Cebu City.
Dubbed as “Saving Lives: The Stories of Doctors Without Borders”, MSF will be introducing some of the Filipinos working in its front line on Friday.
Among the Filipinos who will be speaking in the event are Ji Nacanaynay, a nurse from Iloilo; Dr. Marie Jeanne Bertol, an orthopedic surgeon from Cebu; Dr. Natasha Reyes, an on-call responder for emergencies; and Karmina Marie Aguilar, a human resource coordinator.
Two film screenings, “Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors without Borders” and “Affliction: A Documentary on Ebola”, will be shown on Saturday.
Baikong Mamid, MSF’s senior communications officer for Southeast Asia, said that the goal of the event is to introduce the organization to the Cebuanos and to showcase the contribution of the Filipinos working for MSF.
“So, one of the purpose(s) of this event is to introduce MSF to Cebuanos on what is doctors without borders, what we are doing, who we are. And then also to show the contribution of Filipinos in the global humanitarian work of the organization.” Mamid said.
The MSF is an independent humanitarian organization that was founded by doctors and journalists in 1971 in Paris.
The organization's main focus is on the medical and humanitarian assistance, providing aid to a crisis country and offering an immediate help to the victims of armed countries, sex violence, and to other conflict affected areas.
MSF responded the Philippines in 2013 when Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) swept out the other part of the country particularly in Tacloban City. The team offered healthcare services to the affected families. Since 1984, the team has been responding to crises in the Philippines.
Bringing impartial and neutral assistance to humanity, MSF received a Noble Peace Prize in 1999. This uplifts the MSF team spirit to continue bringing essential healthcare to people in need. (Jessa Bidong, CNU Comm Arts Intern/SunStar Philippines)