'Doctors Without Borders' help world's neediest

A doctor in the program spoke to more than 75 Med School students about his humanitarian efforts. David Schnadower knew he wanted to join Doctors Without Borders ever since he read about its humanitarian missions to help sick and starving children in war-ravaged Afghanistan when he was 15 years old. And he has never regretted the decision, not even when his work brought him face to face with starving and dying children in Uganda and Mexico, where as many as five of his young patients died every day. "The hardest part is sustaining yourself with all this sadness around you," he told more than 75 Medical School students yesterday at the John Morgan Building. "I had a very hard time accepting children were dying around me, and sometimes there wasn't anything I could do to save them." Schnadower recounted his experiences with DWB as part of the International Health Seminar Series, which brings speakers to talk about research and clinical opportunities abroad. With a budget of more than $250 million, and humanitarian missions in 83 countries, DWB is one of the world's largest nongovernmental organizations. The program, established by four French doctors in 1971, focuses on helping those most in need of medical assistance, regardless of their race, religion or political affiliation. DWB "maintains strict impartiality in the name of humanitarian aid," but unlike International Red Cross workers, DWB volunteers are allowed to speak to the media and often provide valuable information about atrocities in troubled areas, he said. Schnadower, who was born in England and grew up in France and Mexico, joined DWB after graduating from the University of Mexico Medical School in 1994. He worked with Sudanese refugees in Uganda and Zapatista rebels in Chiapas, Mexico, and is now a pediatric resident at New York University Medical School. His presentation included a video of malnourished children suffering from malaria and meningitis, from the hospital where he worked in Uganda. Many did not survive. The gut-wrenching images reduced several audience members to tears. Schnadower recounted the experience of a team of doctors who arrived at a refugee camp of 5,000 people with only enough food to feed 2,000, and were forced to decide which lives to save. But he stressed that his work with DWB made him feel like he was "really making a difference," adding that the organization saves 3.3 million lives a year for under $25 per person. Because underdeveloped populations are prone to diseases, Schnadower said immunizations are a major focus of DWB's program. Although children in these countries are 35 times more likely to contract an infectious disease than their counterparts in developed nations, 65 percent of such diseases are preventable with low-cost vaccinations. "It's so easy to make a difference with just food and immunizations," he said, noting that 80 percent of the world's children are vaccinated through organizations like DWB. The International Health Seminar Series was established four years ago through "student initiation and faculty help," said Donald Silberberg, the Medical School's associate dean for international programs. The series is sponsored by the Office of International Medical Programs and the International Medicine Student Group, which consists of about 40 second-year Medical students.

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