Who We Are - Doctors of the World

Who We Are

Real impact isn’t achieved through convenient activism.

We answer the crisis from within the crisis, seek out marginalized populations, and build long-term, sustainable healthcare infrastructures in places society would prefer to ignore.

Doctors of the World is an international human rights organization providing emergency and long-term medical care to vulnerable people. When the crisis is over and the cameras leave, we stay for as long as it takes to build better medical infrastructures. We seek out and defend the inconveniently unhealthy and target underlying medical issues.

We don’t drop in for quick fixes—we empower local communities and build sustainable, robust healthcare infrastructures, both here in the US and abroad. We believe that access to consistent, quality medical care isn’t a privilege but a human right.

We Defend

It’s easy to fight for adorable causes that grab headlines—we seek out and stand alongside different groups. We defend people whom society would prefer to ignore. A crisis often highlights larger issues, and we see medical injustices as more than merely temporary emergencies with a quick fix. We bear witness, spotlight perennial issues, and create sustainable, robust healthcare infrastructure solutions.

We Stay

We’re on a different timeline from most. Instead of dropping in with experts and aid to quickly help in a crisis, we stay well after the cameras have left, sometimes decades, until the local healthcare infrastructure is sustainable. When disaster does strike, we target remote communities often ignored by other organizations and provide long-term medical support and training to native groups in need.

We Empower

Marginalized populations are often portrayed as victims reliant on others’ benevolence. Although we all need emergency medical care during a crisis, in the period following a disaster, we work proactively to empower local groups, communities, and medical experts to build more sustainable and robust healthcare infrastructures.