Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières to Receive 2019 Fries Prize for Improving Health

Humanitarian Organization Honored for its Lifesaving Impact Across the Globe

Philadelphia, PA — Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international independent medical humanitarian organization, will receive the 2019 Fries Prize for Improving Health for its lifesaving impact on the health of people across the world. The award, presented to an individual or organization doing the most to improve health for the greatest number of people, will be presented today at the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) annual meeting in Philadelphia.

MSF delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural or man-made disasters, or exclusion from health care in more than 70 countries. Founded in France in 1971 by a small group of physicians and journalists, MSF is a global movement with the purpose of saving lives and alleviating the suffering of people in danger by delivering medical care where it is most needed. In emergencies and their aftermath, MSF provides health care, rehabilitates and runs hospitals and clinics, performs surgery, battles epidemics, carries out vaccination campaigns, operates feeding centers for malnourished children, and offers mental health care.

“MSF is an amazing organization filled with devoted and caring people who make our world safer,” said Judith Monroe, MD, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation. “We are delighted to recognize them for their sustained body of work that has done so much good for people across the globe.”

Through longer-term programs, MSF treats patients with infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, sleeping sickness, and HIV/AIDS, and provides medical and psychological care to marginalized groups including migrants and refugees. Its advocacy work has raised awareness on equal access to medications. MSF has proven expertise in the field of epidemiology and is often called on to monitor, diagnose and control outbreaks of diseases, such as cholera, Ebola, measles and meningitis.

The James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation is a nonprofit corporation incorporated in 1991. The mission of the foundation is to identify and honor individuals, organizations or institutions, which have made great contributions to the health of the public. The foundation seeks to reward accomplishment rather than promise, practicality rather than theory. The Fries Prize for Improving Health award is $60,000.

The CDC Foundation is honored to partner with the James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation, which established and funds the award. As of 2016, the CDC Foundation manages and administers the Fries Foundation’s public health award programs, which include the Fries Prize for Improving Health and the Elizabeth Fries Health Education Award.