Doctors of the world

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Doctors of the world employees in organizational jackets with logo

Doctors of the World is the name of the German branch of the internationally active humanitarian aid organization Médecins du Monde (MdM) , which has existed since 2000 . The German name is also often used in German-speaking countries for the entire organization. The name Doctors of the World is common in English-speaking countries .

Activities and self-image

Volunteer doctor examines uninsured people in the Doctors of the World treatment bus (2017)

The organization sees its main task in supporting population groups in need in crisis situations, for example in war zones , after natural disasters or in regions characterized by violence , poverty and disease . One focus is helping people to help themselves as part of the prevention of new conflicts and crises. The organization expressly sees the documentation of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law as well as informing the public about such incidents as an important part of its work, in line with the view that there can be no lasting peace without justice. In this point in particular, the work of MdM differs from the strict neutrality as a central concept of the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as well as from the current practice of the work of Médecins Sans Frontières, which is more reluctant than the previous approach is marked in this question. The organization Doctors Without Borders , which initially followed a similar concept to MdM after it was founded by Kouchner, has in part moved away from it due to experiences during the 1990s, especially during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

The association is non-profit as well as politically and denominationally independent. It finances its work about 72% from public grants, 21% from private donations and 7% from donations from NGOs and other income.

The current focus is on medical help and mental health care for people without access to health care, especially refugees , marginalized groups, women and children worldwide. In addition to deployments in crisis and war regions where no state health care is guaranteed, the focus is on creating sustainable care structures. This is done, for example, through basic and advanced training measures for local specialists and training for community workers and the local population.

In addition to missions, the national delegations are also active in their respective home countries. In Germany these are a project in Munich called open.med Munich for medical help for people without insurance cover (since 2006) and the MedMobil project in Stuttgart (since 2009). In Hamburg, the association has been involved in the open.med Hamburg project in westend since December 2014 . Since 2016, Doctors of the World has been running the open.med Berlin project together with the Medical Help Association . The French delegation looks after homeless people in Paris , among other things .

history

Bernard Kouchner during a lecture in May 2006

Médecins du Monde was founded on March 7, 1980 by the French doctor and politician Bernard Kouchner and 14 other doctors. Kouchner was already significantly involved in the establishment of the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) organization, which is also known as Doctors Without Borders in German-speaking countries . From 1977, however, there were increasing differences between him and the leadership of MSF. This mainly concerned the question of how aid workers should deal with violations of human rights and international humanitarian law that they have witnessed in the course of their operations. The final separation between MSF and Kouchner took place in 1980 as a result of Kouchner's assistance for Vietnamese boat refugees . Although the operation was ultimately successful, it was not supported by the majority of MSF members. Kouchner then decided to found a new organization , Médecins du Monde , and was its first president from 1980 to 1982.

In November 1987, Médecins du Monde adopted a logo designed by Richard Rossin. It shows, in white on a blue background, a dove that, drawn in the shape of a cross, symbolically stands for both peace and medical aid. A circle around the dove symbolizes the world, a branch with five leaves in its beak symbolizes the five continents. The logo is surrounded by the circular lettering "MEDECINS DU MONDE". In 1990, when the second delegation was founded in Spain, the international network of MdM was established, and a year later the first non-European delegation was founded in the USA under the name Doctors of the World . In 2000 the German branch Doctors of the World was established as a registered association .

Structure and organization

Organizationally, the international network is divided into 16 sections in France (since 1980), Spain (since 1990), Greece and the USA (since 1990) and Switzerland (since 1993), Sweden (since 1994), Argentina (since 1998), Belgium , Canada , Portugal (since 1999), Germany , Great Britain , Japan , the Netherlands and Turkey . The headquarters of the international network is in Paris . The German headquarters are in Munich . The coordination of the international network was taken over by the directors of the sections Germany and Canada in 2019 and 2020; a new coordination system is to be created for the time thereafter.

The organization has so far been active in around 330 projects in 70 countries and has observer or advisory status in a number of UN institutions and other international organizations such as the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Council of Europe .

The projects are based on the support of volunteers. Almost 8,000 participants worldwide, more than half of them volunteers, support the association's work. The organization sends more than 150 international employees to international projects every year, where they currently work with around 2,000 national colleagues. The income of the German section of Doctors of the World amounted to around 18.1 million euros in 2019, compared to expenses of 17.9 million euros. In 2018, the share of advertising and administrative costs was 4.54 percent.

The association is a signatory of the Transparent Civil Society initiative and has received the DZI donation seal every year since 2006 .

Web links

Commons : Médecins du monde  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Sulzyc: Migrant Medicine expands consultation hours. In: Abendblatt.de. Zeitungsgruppe Hamburg GmbH, November 27, 2014, accessed on August 19, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Annual report 2019. Retrieved on August 19, 2020 .
  3. ↑ www.transparency.de ( Memento from September 5, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 4, 2014