Non Profits
The featured charity for this month is Médecins Sans Frontières.
Over 7 million people have been vaccinated against meningitis in this campaign. Since March this year Médecins Sans Frontières’ medical teams have been working in West Africa in close collaboration with government health authorities to contain what is reported to be the region’s worst meningitis epidemic since 1996.
Meningococcal meningitis is a contagious and potentially fatal bacterial infection of the brain membrane. On average, meningitis kills half of infected people if they are not treated, and one out of 10 who are treated.
The Médecins Sans Frontières teams of some 187 international staff and 7,500 locally recruited staff have been involved in vaccination campaigns and treatment of meningitis patients in Nigeria, Niger and Chad.
In Nigeria alone over 4.6 million people were vaccinated in the course of the campaign across the country. In neighbouring Niger 2.5 million people were vaccinated and in Chad we vaccinated more than 120,000 people.
Médecins Sans Frontières was founded in 1971 by a small group of doctors and journalists who believed that all people should have access to emergency medical relief.
Médecins Sans Frontières was one of the first non-governmental organisations to provide urgently needed medical assistance and to publically bear witness to the plight of the people it helps. The Australian section of Médecins Sans Frontières was established in 1994, and it is currently fully funded by private donors. Every year around one hundred Australians and New Zealanders are sent to, and supported in the field by the Sydney office.
To find out more about the work of Médecins Sans Frontières, visit www.msf.org.au
