Timeline of Médecins Sans Frontières

This is a timeline of Médecins Sans Frontières, an international humanitarian aid organization that provides emergency medical assistance to populations in danger in nearly 70 countries.

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Time period	Development summary	More details	Country

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Year	Event type	Details
1971		"Founded: 1971 in Paris, France" "Médecins Sans Frontières is founded by a group of French doctors and journalists in the wake of the war and accompanying famine in Biafra, Nigeria, and the floods in eastern Pakistan (now Bangladesh)."	France
1972		"The earthquake in Nicaragua marks our first mission in a natural disaster."	Nicaragua
1974		"HURRICANE IN HONDURAS Our first mission of long-term medical assistance."	Honduras
1975		"CAMBODIANS FLEE KHMER ROUGE. MSF establishes its first large-scale medical programme during a refugee crisis, providing medical care for waves of Cambodians seeking sanctuary from Pol Pot’s rule."	Cambodia
1976		"WAR IN LEBANON Our teams conduct surgery in the organisation's first major intervention in a war zone." || Lebanon
1978		"REFUGEE ASSISTANCE MSF launchs of various refugee programmes in Thailand, in the Ogaden region (Djibouti, war between Ethiopia and Somalia) and Eritrean refugees in Sudan." ||
1979		"Co-founder Dr Bernard Kouchner leaves in protest and later founds Médecins du Monde/Doctors of the World."
1979		"Led by Dr Claude Malhuret and Dr Francis Charhon, MSF moves beyond its modus operandi of sending isolated doctors to crisis zones in favour of creating a more structured organisation that can provide quality medical services in crises."
1980		"FIRST NUTRITIONAL PROGRAMME In the Karamoja province of Uganda, MSF's first nutritional programme is launched in the midst of drought and civil war." || Uganda
1980		"WAR IN AFGHANISTAN After the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in the final days of 1979, triggering a war that would last a decade, MSF medical teams clandestinely cross the Pakistani–Afghan border and travel by mule for several weeks to reach injured civilians living in remote areas." || Afghanistan
1980		"FIRST INTERNATIONAL APPEAL “Walk for survival of Cambodia”, MSF's first international appeal, is launched in protest against the Vietnamese authorities stopping our teams from bringing aid to Cambodia." || Cambodia
1981		"MSF HOSPITALS BOMBED Bombardments of MSF hospitals in Afghanistan" || Afghanistan
1984		"FAMINE IN ETHIOPIA MSF starts programmes to treat malnutrition in hunger-stricken regions of Ethiopia." || Ethiopia
1985		"MSF EXPELLED FROM ETHIOPIA MSF is expelled by the government from Ethiopia after denouncing the hijacking of humanitarian aid and the forced transfers of populations by the latter." ||
1985		"CONFLICT IN CENTRAL AMERICA MSF provide medical care in Honduras to refugees from El Salvador and Nicaragua." || Honduras
1986		"CIVIL WAR IN SRI LANKA MSF organises mobile clinics and hospital programmes to treat injured and traumatised citizens in Sri Lanka. Yemen intervention in Aden where fighting rages between rival factions of the ruling party." || Sri Lanka

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