Friends of MSF Society (Q&A)
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Q. Tell us about your society and what it does?
A. Friends of MSF is a university society supporting Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without borders).
As a society we aim to raise awareness of humanitarian issues in more than 70 countries that MSF work with and raise donations to support the independent charity in providing medical aid. MSF provide medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare.
Their teams are formed of thousands of qualified healthcare professionals, administrative and logistics staff. MSF is a non-profit organisation and are guided by medical ethics and neutrality so provide medical aid to anyone and everyone in need.
MSF have field teams and undertakes work worldwide in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America.
Q. What do you have planned for this year?
A. For the first academic year we have so much planned that will help engage other students and societies!
In the February month so far we have two things planned; Stravathon - this is where we will raise money from the 8th - 22nd February alongside all other Friends of MSF charities based around the world! This is an amazing opportunity for our first event and we hope to see so many students joining us in raising money for such a worthy charity. We also have a potential “secret admirers with MSF” event planned for Valentine’s Day, this will allow students that are based on campus to send a small gift from us and a secret message to a loved one / significant others for a small fee (this money will go straight to the MSF charity.)
Due to COVID-19 a lot of plans have been held off but we still hope to have regular movie nights, quiz nights and meets on Discord / Teams!
Q. How can students get involved?
A. The most important aspect for students to get involved is following and supporting our social medias. This will keep students and others updated on new events and information posted by ourselves and MSF (shared on our behalf).
Another important aspect is purchasing a membership, as with this, students will be able to enter raffles and partake in our group activities to win official MSF merchandise such as t-shirts, pens, stickers and so much more!
Finally, students can help by staying alert and keeping their eyes on the ‘What’s on Page’ found on the student’s union website, partaking in future activities / events and donating where they can as every penny helps, for example: £3 buys 312 ibuprofen, £10 provides vaccination against measles to 21 children.
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