By Dorothy Augustyniak
Daily Bruin Contributor
Executive director of Doctors Without Borders, Nicolas de
Torrente, said at an event at UCLA Thursday that humanitarian
actions in the post-Sept. 11 era in Afghanistan will remain about
the same, even though the country has garnered much of the
world’s attention.
For the past 20 years, Afghanistan has gone through many
problems, such as the oppression of women and the collapse of their
health system. Ever since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,
Afghanistan and its problems have become the major focus in the
media, De Torrente said.
Even though Afghanistan has received much attention from the
media after Sept. 11, this will not increase the amount of
assistance they will receive said de Torrente.
Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres
USA, is a nonprofit group dedicated to providing medical assistance
to countries that have experienced natural catastrophes and
epidemics. The organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in
1999 for their contributions and humanitarian work in many
countries, including Afghanistan.
De Torrente addressed what Doctors Without Borders have gone
through since Sept. 11: “Fundamentally, I want to say that
our mission and our determination has not changed because the need
has not changed; however, the environment in which we work in has
changed.”
De Torrente said that the two major changes that have occurred
since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. are:
“¢bull;The shift in political and pubic attention crisis
situations worldwide.
“¢bull;Humanitarian efforts are now carried out as part of an
anti-terrorism campaign.
“What surprised me the most is how quickly the media
shifted their focus to issues in Afghanistan after the terrorist
attacks,” said third-year history student Anna Paul.
The men, women, and children have affected the lives of people
worldwide with the large amount of media coverage since Sept.
11.
“Last summer, I was in Afghanistan working on various
projects dealing with health care ever since the health system
collapsed,” said de Torrente.
“This is really remarkable, the change of fortunes because
for many years the fight of Afghans has gone largely
unnoticed,” said de Torrente.
Doctors Without Borders has sections in 18 countries. Every
year, more than 2,000 volunteer doctors, nurses, and medical
personnel help provide medical assistance to more than 80 countries
after a natural disaster or crisis
The organization was found by a small group of French doctors in
1971. It became the first non-governmental organization to provide
emergency medical aid in the times of crisis and natural disasters.
Los Angeles and New York City are home to the offices of Doctors
Without Borders in the United States.
“Those who participate in this organization are very
brave, to go to a foreign country whenever there is a natural
disaster or a crisis,” said fourth-year English student Danny
Lee.
Thursday’s event was sponsored by the UCLA School of
Public Policy and Social Research, the UCLA School of Medicine, the
UCLA School of Public Health, and the UCLA International Studies
and Overseas Program.