page_title: Médecins Sans Frontières
section_title: Biafra
hierarchical_section_title: Médecins Sans Frontières / Origin / Biafra
caption_attribution_description: العربية: صُورة ترجع لِأواخر عقد الستينيَّات من القرن العشرين، تُظهر طفلة مريضة جالسة، تُعاني من مرض كواشيوركور شأنها شأن الكثير من الأطفال الذين عُثر عليهم في مُخيمات اللاجئين خِلال الحرب الأهليَّة النيجيريَّة. الكواشيوركور هو مرضٌ ينجم عن عوز الپروتين الحاد، وهذه الطفلة، التي تسببت نوعيَّة حميتها الغذائيَّة بِهذا المرض، كانت تُعاني أيضًا من عوارض مُختلفة بما فيها وذمة الساقين والقدمين، وبهتان لون الجلد، وتساقط الشعر، وفقر الدم، وانتفاخ المعدة، ولمعان الجلد. أُنشأ الكثير من مُخيمات الإغاثة في سبيل تقديم المُساعدات الغذائيَّة لِلقرويين في المناطق المُحيطة بِمواقع النزاع. English: This late 1960s photograph shows a seated, listless child, who was among many kwashiorkor cases found in Nigerian relief camps during the Nigerian–Biafran war. Kwashiorkor is a disease brought on due to a severe dietary protein deficiency, and this child, whose diet fit such a deficiency profile, presented with symptoms including edema of legs and feet, light-colored, thinning hair, anemia, a pot-belly, and shiny skin. A large number of relief camps were established for nutrition assessment and feeding operations for the local villagers around the war zone. Español: Tomada a finales la década de 1960, esta fotografía muestra a una niña lánguida sentada; uno de muchos casos de personas afectadas por el kwashiorkor encontradas en campamentos de socorro nigerianos durante la guerra entre Nigeria y Biafra. Français&#160;: Photo de la fin des années 1960 montrant une jeune fille atteinte de kwashiorkor, l'un des nombreux enfants atteints de ce mal lié à la malnutrition présents dans les camps de réfugiés nigériens au cours de la guerre du Biafra. Cette maladie se manifeste ici par un œdème de l’abdomen (grand ventre protubérant) et des extrémités, une atteinte des cheveux et de la peau, et une anémie. Italiano: Uno dei tanti bambini affetti da kwashiorkor presenti nei campi di accoglienza durante la guerra del Biafra Українська: Дитина, хвора на квашіоркор, у таборі для біженців під час громадянської війни у Нігерії (1967—1970)
context_page_description: Médecins Sans Frontières, sometimes rendered in English as Doctors Without Borders, is an international humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation of French origin best known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases. In 2019, the group was active in 70 countries with over 35,000 personnel mostly local doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, logistical experts, water and sanitation engineers and administrators. Private donors provide about 90% of the organisation's funding, while corporate donations provide the rest, giving MSF an annual budget of approximately US$1.63 billion.
  Médecins Sans Frontières was founded in 1971, in the aftermath of the Biafra secession, by a small group of French doctors and journalists who sought to expand accessibility to medical care across national boundaries and irrespective of race, religion, creed or political affiliation. To that end, the organisation emphasises "independence and impartiality", and explicitly precludes political, economic, or religious factors in its decision making.
context_section_description: During the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, the Nigerian military formed a blockade around the nation's newly independent south-eastern region, Biafra. At this time, France was one of the only major countries supportive of the Biafrans (the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States sided with the Nigerian government), and the conditions within the blockade were unknown to the world. A number of French doctors volunteered with the French Red Cross to work in hospitals and feeding centres in besieged Biafra. One of the co-founders of the organisation was Bernard Kouchner, who later became a high-ranking French politician.
  After entering the country, the volunteers, in addition to Biafran health workers and hospitals, were subjected to attacks by the Nigerian army, and witnessed civilians being murdered and starved by the blockading forces. The doctors publicly criticised the Nigerian government and the Red Cross for their seemingly complicit behaviour. These doctors concluded that a new aid organisation was needed that would ignore political/religious boundaries and prioritise the welfare of victims.
caption: A child with kwashiorkor during the Nigerian Civil War
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