By Melyssa Allen

Haiti, Pakistan and Niger often have to fight for space in American headlines. On February 16, crisis situations in these nations took center stage at Meredith College, when Doctors Without Borders' U.S. Executive Director Nicolas de Torrenté spoke.

Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), is an international humanitarian relief agency that was founded in 1971 by a group of French physicians. MSF, which currently has 2,500 volunteers working in over 80 countries, was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

De Torrenté said his organization's purpose is medical humanitarian action, which he defined as "the simple idea that people caught up in conflict and crisis deserve to be spared [and] deserve to receive access to medical care."

MSF works with existing local medical facilities to provide "life saving assistance when people need it the most," including in Haiti, Pakistan and Niger, the three countries de Torrenté offered as examples of the organization's work in countries that were affected by conflict, disaster and nutritional emergency. He also discussed MSF's focus on the global AIDS pandemic.

De Torrenté discussed some of the innovations that have supported MSF, including inflatable hospitals used in Pakistan following the 2005 earthquake, a ready-to-use nutritional product that resulted in a 90% cure rate of children treated for malnutrition in Niger, and cheaper AIDS treatments.

"We can do better with innovation…we treat many, many more who otherwise might be dying," de Torrenté said. "[Treatment] requires inspiration, adaptation and motivation of others."

An audience of more than 300 attended the lecture, which was part of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Presidential Lecture Series at Meredith College. For more information, visit www.meredith.edu/owor.