Principles, Ethics, and Dilemmas: Becoming Doctors Without Borders

Doctors Without Borders is coming to Philadelphia for a FREE panel discussion!

Time and again, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) turns up in front-page stories about humanitarian crises in places such as Syria, Afghanistan, Haiti, or, most recently, West Africa, where MSF has led the effort to counter the worst Ebola outbreak the world has ever known. At the same time, MSF teams work far from the headlines, in remote, neglected settings like Yemen, Papua New Guinea, or Central African Republic, and treat diseases most people have never heard of like kala azar, chagas, or sleeping sickness.

For more than 40 years, in fact, MSF has responded to medical catastrophes large and small. A movement that began with a handful of physicians now includes more than 35,000 employees around the globe. Pick a spot on the map—from Colombia to Chad, Uganda to Uzbekistan, Sierra Leone to South Sudan—MSF is there.

WHYY's Maiken Scott will lead a conversation with MSF’s Executive Director in the United States, Sophie Delaunay, and three academic experts who have dedicated years to studying the organization. They will explore MSF’s history and development and tackle questions such as, how has MSF worked to stay flexible, reactive, and effective as it expanded through the years? How does it stay prepared to respond to emergencies wherever they occur? And are its core tenets of independence, neutrality, and impartiality viable at a time when the risks seem ever more extreme, particularly in places where protections once afforded to aid workers are eroding?

Panelists will include:

Sophie Delaunay, Executive Director, Doctors Without Borders-USA

Renée C. Fox, Annenberg Professor Emerita of the Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, and author of Doctors Without Borders: Humanitarian Quests, Impossible Dreams of Médecins Sans Frontières

Laurence Binet, Director of Studies, Fondation MSF, and author of MSF's Speaking Out Case Studies series

Peter Redfield, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of North Carolina, and author of Life in Crisis: The Ethical Journey of Doctors Without Borders