Doctors Within Borders

"Lo's study of Japanese rule in Taiwan illuminates the ways in which the Japanese fostered the development of modern Western medicine and is crucial for a broader understanding of colonialization. Lo blends insights from social movement theory, ethnic studies and critical theory to explore the 'hybrid identities' among Taiwanese physicians hemmed in by scientific colonialism."—Richard Madsen, author of China's Catholics: Tragedy and Hope in an Emerging Civil Society "This beautifully-executed study of Taiwanese doctors—self-appointed agents of modernity—captures what happens to people and groups caught at the intersection of colonialism and professionalization. It enriches our understanding of these large-scale processes, of identity, agency and of modernity itself."—Julia P. Adams, author of The Familial State: Ruling Families and States in Early Modern Europe (forthcoming)

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down explores the clash between a small county hospital in California and a refugee family from Laos over the care of Lia Lee, a Hmong child diagnosed with severe epilepsy. Lia's parents and her doctors both wanted what was best for Lia, but the lack of understanding between them led to tragedy. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest, and the Salon Book Award, Anne Fadiman's compassionate account of this cultural impasse is literary journalism at its finest. ______ Lia Lee 1982-2012 Lia Lee died on August 31, 2012. She was thirty years old and had been in a vegetative state since the age of four. Until the day of her death, her family cared for her lovingly at home.

Life in Crisis tells the story of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders or MSF) and its effort to "save lives" on a global scale. Begun in 1971 as a French alternative to the Red Cross, the MSF has grown into an international institution with a reputation for outspoken protest as well as technical efficiency. It has also expanded beyond emergency response, providing for a wider range of endeavors, including AIDS care. Yet its seemingly simple ethical goal proves deeply complex in practice. MSF continually faces the problem of defining its own limits. Its minimalist form of care recalls the promise of state welfare, but without political resolution or a sense of well-being beyond health and survival. Lacking utopian certainty, the group struggles when the moral clarity of crisis fades. Nevertheless, it continues to take action and innovate. Its organizational history illustrates both the logic and the tensions of casting humanitarian medicine into a leading role in international affairs.

Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, delivers emergency aid around the world. This book tells its history and examines the lives of individual volunteers. Topics range from emergency surgery in war zones to witnessing atrocities.

An intimate portrait of the renowned international humanitarian organization. Winner of the PROSE Award for Excellence, Sociology and Social Work of the Association of American Publishers This study of Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) casts new light on the organization’s founding principles, distinctive culture, and inner struggles to realize more fully its “without borders” transnational vision. Pioneering medical sociologist Renée C. Fox spent nearly twenty years conducting extensive ethnographic research within MSF, a private international medical humanitarian organization that was created in 1971 and awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1999. With unprecedented access, Fox attended MSF meetings and observed doctors and other workers in the field. She interviewed MSF members and participants and analyzed the content of such documents as communications between MSF staff members within the offices of its various headquarters, communications between headquarters and the field, and transcripts of internal group discussions and meetings. Fox weaves these threads of information into a rich tapestry of the MSF experience that reveals the dual perspectives of an insider and an observer. The book begins with moving, detailed accounts from the blogs of women and men working for MSF in the field. From there, Fox chronicles the organization’s early history and development, paying special attention to its struggles during the first decades of its existence to clarify and implement its principles. The core of the book is centered on her observations in the field of MSF’s efforts to combat a rampant epidemic of HIV/AIDS in postapartheid South Africa and the organization’s response to two challenges in postsocialist Russia: an enormous surge in homelessness on the streets of Moscow and a massive epidemic of tuberculosis in the penal colonies of Siberia. Fox’s accounts of these crises exemplify MSF’s struggles to provide for thousands of people in need when both the populations and the aid workers are in danger. Enriched by vivid photographs of MSF operations and by ironic, self-critical cartoons drawn by a member of the Communications Department of MSF France, Doctors Without Borders highlights the bold mission of the renowned international humanitarian organization even as it demonstrates the intrinsic dilemmas of humanitarian action.

An inside look at a medical care agency.

Carlo Urbani was an infective disease specialist with a beaming career, one of the most experienced in the world. He has received the Nobel Peace Prize as a national president of Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF). On March 29, Urbani, ironically as the very first doctor discovering Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), was killed by the mysterious virus in a remote hospital of the Far East. Doctor Without Borders: Portrait of Carlo Urbani documents his remarkable life stories by including contents of manuscripts, interviews, and letters, in an attempt to honor Urbani’s memories in every way possible.

Doctors Without Borders is a very important international organization. Around the world this agency's volunteers and staff are working to provide urgent medical care, immunizations and treat disease outbreaks. Have you ever wondered how this important work gets done? How do organizations like Doctors Without Borders help? What kinds of problems do they have to solve? Read How Do They Help? Doctors Without Borders to learn more about many people who help in your community and around the world.