Doctors Without Borders

Humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders says in a new report that ongoing conflicts in parts of the Near East and Central and Eastern Africa are among the ten worst global crises of 2009.

The list includes crises which are being caused by government efforts to block assistance to civilians in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Sudan, as well as a lack of civilian safety and aid in Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Doctors Without Borders, otherwise known as MSF, from the acronym for its French name, Medecins sans Frontieres, said its report seeks to foster greater awareness of crises that do not receive adequate attention in the international press.

The group itself is best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic disease.

Scourge of HIV

Although MSF has not ranked the top 10 crises, the organization's director of operations in the UK, Vickie Hawkins, told Deutsche Welle that the new report highlights the need to keep up funding to counter diseases and viruses like HIV/AIDS.

"HIV is quite an interesting example because the funding for HIV has increased quite dramatically in recent years following a pledge at the G8 in 2005 to ensure universal coverage," she said. "Yet now we're starting to see governments retract from the commitments that they made."

The MSF report also said general funding by the international community has continued to be inadequate to fight malnutrition in some of the world's poorest countries.

"It's estimated that 55 million children worldwide suffer from malnourishment and up to five million of those die each year from preventable causes related to malnutrition," Hawkings said. "But there's never really the funding that's necessary to combat those extraordinary levels of malnutrition, it's never been available."

States also to blame

Peter Bouckart of Human Rights Watch told Deutsche Welle that much of the problem also lies with governments refusing to grant human rights and humanitarian workers access to conflict regions within their borders.

"We have governments and insurgents making it much more difficult for us as human rights organizations, as well as humanitarian organizations, to operate in many of these places around the world," he said.

"And that goes for places like Somalia and Afghanistan, where insurgents are directly targeting organizations, as well as for crises like in Sri Lanka, where for more than a year now the government has effectively banned many humanitarian organizations from reaching those most in need."

Bouckart added that yearly reports like the MSF's are important not only because they alert governments to conflicts and disasters, but they are also valuable for the humanitarian community itself.

"I think it's an important reminder that there are many crises out there, and they are effectively ignored because the humanitarian community does sometimes have a bit of a herd mentality," he said. "They read the newspapers and watch the news, and respond to the crises that get a lot of attention, and there are always crises that fall off the agenda."

MSF is currently involved in 70 countries, but despite this it says it still doesn't have the resources to provide help to all the people who need it. Without effective support from governments and the public, the group says millions will continue to suffer.

Author: Darren Mara
Editor: Michael Lawton