Ways to Support Doctors Without Borders

Dr. Jasung Kim serves as a psychiatrist at the Lincoln Regional Center in Nebraska. Outside of his work as an inpatient specialist, Dr. Jasung Kim supports several international charities, including Doctors Without Borders.

Doctors Without Borders (also known as Médicins Sans Frontières, or MSF) is a nongovernmental relief organization dedicated to providing medical assistance to those affected by natural disasters, wars, disease outbreaks, neglect, and other crises around the world. A group of French doctors who were determined to assist those affected by war, regardless of the political climate, founded the organization in 1971. Since then, MSF has expanded to assist over 80 countries. In 1999, it received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its work.

The humanitarian organization welcomes assistance in many forms. Volunteers who cannot assist patients and doctors on-site or in the office with administrative or logistical support are encouraged to donate stock, royalties, money, and other supplies. A new initiative calls on volunteers who are unable to donate funds to engage their communities directly through conversations on the street at people’s homes.

The funds raised allow Doctors Without Borders to operate internationally wherever it chooses. That way, the organization does not have to accept government funding that could compromise its ethics.                            

Humanitarian Efforts of Doctors Without Borders

A psychiatrist with more than 30 years of medical experience, Dr. Jasung Kim served as an army and child psychiatrist and on the staff of a mental facility in South Korea before relocating to the US in 1995. Dr. Jasung Kim currently works as a staff psychiatrist at Nebraska’s Lincoln Regional Center, and is a supporter of Doctors Without Borders.

Established in 1971, the Doctors Without Borders program organizes volunteer medical professionals around the world, providing emergency medical attention to people in need. The organization also strives to improve or correct the following humanitarian issues in the countries they service:

- Armed Conflict. Volunteer doctors assist individuals in war-torn nations such as Syria and Libya, who are suffering from mental illnesses caused by trauma, including sexual violence.

- Natural Disasters. Supply warehouses around the world enable Doctors Without Borders workers to respond swiftly to unexpected disasters, such as tsunamis, typhoons, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

- Neglected People. In countries like Cambodia, impoverished people are suffering from HIV, tuberculosis, and malnutrition. Doctors work to control infections and ensure that the population has access to medication.

- Refugees and Internationally Displaced People (IDPs). Around the world, close to 60 million people have been forced to leave their homes due to persecution of their nationality or religion. Doctors Without Borders supplies psychological care and nutritional aid to these victims.