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Doctors Without Borders Book Review

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Aeberhard, P. (1996). A Historical Survey of Humanitarian Action. Health and Human Rights, 2(1), 30–44. http://doi.org/10.2307/4065234 Aeberhard’s focus in this article is to present the history of international humanitarian organization, such as Doctors Without Borders. Emphasis is placed on organizations role in international humanitarian law debates and how organizations act with respect to their mission and interpretation of international law. Aeberhard also makes note of limitations and challenges that international humanitarian organizations face. Doctors Without Borders, USA. (2015). Retrieved November 18, 2015, from http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3628#.VktQrkuHPwI Charity Navigator is a national …show more content…

She examines this organization with the perspective of an insider and observed. The book starts with a collection of statements from people that worked for the organization and then delves into the history and founding principles of Doctors Without Borders. A major focus within her book is the efforts of Doctors Without Borders to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa after apartheid. Redfield, P. (2006). A Less Modest Witness: Collective Advocacy and Motivated Truth in a Medical Humanitarian Movement. American Ethnologist, 33(1), 3–26. Retrieved from http://0-www.jstor.org.library.acaweb.org/stable/3805313 Redfield analyzes Doctors Without Borders principle of bearing witness. He focuses on this principle of the organization and how the actualize their values while comparing it to traditional virtuous testimony. The suggestion in this article is that NGOs play an important role in defining secular truths. Redfield finds Doctors Without Borders use of science and values to be beneficial to the international community. Redfield finds importance in the organizations emphasis of bearing witness, while remaining neutral as a …show more content…

Doctors Without Borders distinguished between “national” and “expatriate” staff and this can possibly be considered discriminatory, colonialist, and racist. The authors then discuss how this hierocracy can be remedied by explaining the complexity of the issues. Their main proposal is that the organization use local knowledge in order to lessen inequality. Taller, H. Saving Face: Redeeming a Universal Face. (2014). Saving Face: Redeeming a Universal Face. In Saving Face: Disfigurement and the Politics of Appearance (pp. 106–144). NYU Press. Retrieved from http://0-www.jstor.org.library.acaweb.org/stable/j.ctt9qfpqg.9 Taller dedicates a chapter of her book to international medical philanthropic organizations, including Doctors Without Borders. She delves into how these organizations fix, treat, and cure individuals around the world. Within her discussion she mentions the reliance these organizations have on western governments and the trafficking of biomedical interventions. One explain Taller looks at in detail is that of HIV/AIDS in

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