MSF presented with UAE health prize

The International medical relief organisation Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) was awarded the UAE Health Foundation Prize 2002 this week.

"The UAE office of MSF would like to express its gratitude to President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and to His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces for this gesture," said MSF in a statement.

This award is intended to reward people, institutions or organisations who have made an outstanding contribution to health development.

MSF is an international network operating in 18 countries. Each year, more than 3,000 doctors, nurses, other medical professionals, logistics experts, water and sanitation engineers and administrators, join 15,000 locally hired staff to provide medical aid in more than 80 countries.

MSF is an independent international organisation funded by personal contributions made by individuals.

"I want to stress that neither American nor European states are in a position to put pressure on us because funds are not related to governments. We are financially independent and we raise our voices in difficult situations," Dr Jean-Herve Bradol, President of MSF, told reporters after announcing the prize which was awarded on May 16.

In 2000 it was stated by Tarek Daher, representative of MSF in the UAE, that Dh 2.7 million had been raised as a contribution to the organisation.

"We want to extend our work in the UAE and we want people to know about MSF," said Daher.

Over the past months, MSF has increased its activity in Palestine. Dr Jean-Herve said "The main difficulties faced by Palestinian doctors are that because of the occupation they cannot move to certain areas. For example, it is very difficult to reach families near occupation colonies. MSF visits these families who are affected by activities of destruction and occupation by the Israelis."

He stressed the need for governments to respect basic humanitarian rights. "The Israeli army is not carefully respecting the rights of civilians. Individuals who are not participating in the resistance are often killed or hurt."