Friend: I’ve seen a lot in my days as an emergency physician and emergency aid coordinator for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). My team and I were some of the first medical personnel in Yemen to treat patients affected by the country’s deadly cholera outbreak in 2017, where more than one million people contracted the disease in a span of just eight months.

In January 2020, as COVID-19 was spreading rapidly around the world, I was tasked with helping plan MSF’s response to the pandemic. Nineteen hours after receiving that phone call, I was on a plane to Asia. When battling the outbreak of a deadly illness, we need to go where others can’t, or won’t go, and we need to act fast.

Most recently I was working in Malawi, where a deadly second wave has drastically escalated the need for emergency COVID-19 care and vaccines. But, frustratingly, the need for vaccines isn’t the greatest challenge we face right now. In Malawi, and in many other low- and middle-income countries MSF serves, our patients are in urgent need of oxygen.

Friend, when disaster strikes, we need to be prepared to go wherever we’re needed most. That's why we’ve set a goal for 250 of our most committed supporters to step up and help our teams be prepared for the next emergency and save lives in more than 70 countries. Will you make a gift to MSF today?

Friend, we have the staff—41,000 people strong—expertise, and tools to deliver the rapid response medical care that saves lives during a crisis. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for our emergency response work has never been greater.

Outbreaks are difficult to contain under any circumstance, never mind in the middle of a pandemic. But we can only respond to these challenges and continue to treat ongoing outbreaks because of your generous support.

No matter where my work as an emergency doctor takes me, I count on MSF to give me the support I need to save lives. In the same way, MSF counts on your support to help deliver emergency care to people in urgent need.

Thanks for helping us do what we do,

Dr. Tankred Stoebe, Emergency Physician & Former
Doctors Without Borders International Board Member