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By Lanny Smith
Doctors for Global Health was created as a student-friendly, international solidarity movement dedicated to the promotion of human dignity and social justice, and working within a framework of health, education, human rights and the arts. DGH grew from the experience of international volunteers accompanying the communities of South-Eastern Morazán in El Salvador. It was founded to further our work there by enabling us to recruit volunteers and raise funds in the United States. It also offers the potential to reproduce what we have learned about Community Oriented Primary Care and Human Rights in other parts of the world.
MDS, which began with a democratic nature (membership with votes), in accompaniment of communities, an insistence on no "political party" ties and no religious discrimination, was formed at the same time as DGH. MDS was formed by a group of Salvadoran physicians and other professionals who believe that Health and Education are basic Human Rights and must be promoted as such. This group first came together as volunteers with the Salvadoran Mission of MDM. MDS continues to be the Salvadoran counterpart of MDM-France and at one time petitioned to be an affiliate of MDM (to date there has been no official reply to that request, though there has been much debate). MDS' philosophy is also strongly influenced by Liberation Theology, as practiced by Archbishop Romero and Ignacio Martín-Baró, among others. (MDS was DGH's partner organization in El Salvador between 1995 and 2004.)
MDM's mission is to provide medical care to the most needy and marginalized populations and to bear witness to human rights abuses against them. MDM has 3,000 members and thousands more volunteers. The president of MDM-France is an elected volunteer, and volunteers are responsible for the over 150 missions they have around the world. The organization itself is directed by an Administrative Council of elected member-volunteers and at least half of its finances must come from non-governmental donations. MDM has seven affiliates, all in developed nations like Spain, Switzerland and the USA, which tend to vary from MDM-France in whether they are member-based, volunteer-based and how they get their finances.
MDM was formed by Dr. Bernard Kouchner, who also founded Médecins san Frontiers (MSF, Doctors without Borders). MDM was born in 1980, as a split-off from MSF, and tends to be more open to community development initiatives and work aimed at conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation. MDM's concept of Volunteerism and bearing witness for Human Rights have had great influence on MDS and the subsequent birth of DGH. MSF, which specializes in emergency relief, was formed in France in 1971, following the Biafra conflict in Africa, as an alternative to the International Council of the Red Cross. ICRC makes an agreement with the governments of the countries in which it works not to divulge violations of human rights to the press, only bringing them to the attention of the government itself. The ICRC's goal is to be allowed in so it can bring immediate assistance to the victims of war. It was inspired by Henry Dunant of Geneva who, having watched the Battle of Solferino in 1859, wrote: "Would it not be possible in time of peace and quiet to form relief societies for the purpose of having care given to the wounded in wartime by zealous, devoted and thoroughly qualified volunteers?"
DGH, therefore, is founded on a long history of humanitarian aid. So, why form DGH when all these other groups exist? Part of the reason is that many organizations dedicated to solidarity with Central America, were disappearing. There was a need for a trustworthy way for conscientious persons to continue their support of the struggle for human dignity and social justice in Latin America and to keep chronicling human rights violations.
Finally, it seemed that the subject of Liberation Medicine-which I call the conscious,
conscientious use of medicine to promote human dignity and social justice-has the
potential to inspire medical students, physicians, lawyers, public health professionals
and others in the US. Once inspired, DGH can offer them a clear, concrete and manageable
way (community by community) to accompany the many peoples around the world (including the
US) who have difficulty making their voices heard-the "voiceless," as Archbishop
Romero called them. DGH provides a legal backbone and a supportive community that listens,
cares and acts.
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