Jennifer Tierney’s presentation on Doctors Without Borders last Friday shed valuable light on international relief efforts in Haiti and other third-world and extremely poor countries.
Tierney is the US Development Director of Doctors Without Borders. In her presentation, Tierney said that Doctors Without Borders has performed 28,251 surgeries in Haiti alone as of February 18.
Doctors Without Borders, which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, serves 60 different countries, and is funded mostly through private and corporate donations. Doctors Without Borders does not accept funding from the governments of countries that play a part in the conflicts that it attempts to address.
According to Tierney, there were 3,177 staff members in Haiti as of February 18, a great number of whom were deployed from other countries. During the earthquake, the Doctors Without Borders’ Haitian hospital collapsed, creating the need for makeshift facilities as well as additional staff.
In addition, Doctors Without Borders’ annual operating budget for 2009 was $167,899,824. Donors from the United States contributed $151,514,937 of the annual income. “We’re a billion-dollar organization, now,” Tierney said.
Alessandra Powell ’11, a member of the International Club, was impressed by Tierney’s talk.
“I didn’t know she knew literally every single thing about Doctors Without Borders,” she said. “I thought she would just have researched what she needed for her presentation, and I was surprised she knew everything off the top of her head. It was amazing,” she continued.
Doctors Without Borders is politically impartial, and strives to give aid where it is needed, regardless of the area’s political status. This sets Doctors Without Borders apart from other aid organizations.
According to Tierney, it can often be difficult to distribute such aid as vaccines in foreign countries affected by war. People in these countries are often incredulous towards white men and women who offer to insert needles into their arms.
Some incidents have occurred that led Doctors Without Borders to question its involvement in particular countries.
Tierney spoke of an incident in Somalia that resulted in the deaths of three doctors that forced Doctors Without Borders to reconsider its presence in the region. However, locals showed extreme anger at the group responsible for the killings, and Doctors Without Borders ultimately decided to remain in Somalia.
Powell was impressed with the turnout. “We were competing with the pep rally, which was obviously a major magnet for our student athletes, but we still managed to have an awesome crowd show up,” she said.
“In addition, a group of doctors came in from downtown [Andover] who had their own input based on their experiences working alongside Doctors Without Borders,” Powell continued.
Tierney’s visit to campus was sponsored by the International Club and made possible by Tierney’s acquaintance with Deborah Chase, Instructor in English. Chase and Tierney met at their alma mater, Colgate University.