United Arab Emirates

The Aspen Health Care employees based in Dubai supported Médecins Sans Frontières on Mandela Day.

Funds are required by Médecins Sans Frontières, and they elected to host a book bazaar at which books of all languages and topics would be sold to raise funds. Over a few months, the Aspen Health Care team collected a broad range of books from family and friends. Twelve employees from the Aspen Dubai office then transported the books to Abu Dhabi during Mandela week where they assisted the Médecins Sans Frontières team to sort, categorise and price the books. The funds will be used for projects run by Médecins Sans Frontières in the region.

The Médecins Sans Frontières team in Dubai is headed up by a South African who is delighted to be participating together with the Aspen Health Care team in this international initiative which is so close to his heart.

About Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Also known as Doctors without Borders, this organisation was formed in 1971 by a group of doctors and journalists aiming to establish an independent organisation focused on emergency medicine and speaking out about the cause of human suffering. MSF's work is based on the humanitarian principles of medical ethics and remains committed to bearing witness and speaking out.

MSF is one of the world's leading independent organisations for medical humanitarian aid, giving quality medical care to people caught in crisis regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation. Every day, more than 27,000 MSF field staff provide assistance around the world to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care or natural disasters.

In 2008, MSF carried out over 8 million outpatient consultations and dealt with over 312,000 inpatients. MSF teams had 230,000 HIV/AIDS patients under care, vaccinated 2.7 million people against measles or meningitis, treated more than 1.2 million people for malaria, and 1.4 million children against severe malnutrition.  There were 100,000 deliveries including caesarean sections, 130,000 mental health individual consultations and 50,000 major surgical interventions.

MSF has offices in 19 countries, supporting projects in around 65 countries. There are five 'operational centres' which directly control field projects, deciding when, where and what aid is necessary and when to end a programme.