Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), known in English as Doctors Without Borders, is a private nonprofit international association whose mission is to provide lifesaving medical care to those most in need. MSF volunteers frequently work in conflict zones, after natural disasters, during epidemics, and in long-term care settings. The organization emphasizes independence and impartiality.
Dr. Africa Stewart is an American obstetrician/gynecologist who has been on seven volunteer missions with MSF and is a board member of the organization. She has worked in South Sudan and Sierra Leone among other countries, most often treating patients who have been displaced from their homes due to natural disasters or political conflict and who have no access to health care.
Research has shown that at the MSF-managed neonatal unit in Aweil Hospital, rural South Sudan, where Stewart was assigned, overall mortality declined from 2011 to 2014 despite increasing admissions. MSF provision of emergency obstetric care combined with a functional patient transfer system was associated with a rapid and substantial reduction in maternal mortality in Kabezi district, rural Burundi. In 2015, MSF had 103 projects offering obstetric and newborn care in 28 countries, with 243,300 births assisted, including Caesarean sections.
Why choose a career in healthcare? Stewart derives a lot of satisfaction from being a role model for her children
Stewart typically spends 8 to 10 weeks a year in the field. The remainder of the year is spent caring for her children and working part time as a “temp” obstetrician/gynecologist in her home city of Atlanta. She has managed to carve out a workable arrangement that permits her to focus her professional energy on her MSF work, which is her passion.
She has been able to balance work and family in large part due to a supportive network of friends, neighbors, and family. Why choose a career in healthcare? Stewart derives a lot of satisfaction from being a role model for her children. She is proud that her children are growing up in an “environment of service.” She wants them to understand that hard work is good for you, and to be “givers not takers.”
There is plenty of room for well-trained, adventurous doctors, Stewart advises, and like-minded folks who are aware of the obstacles can help in figuring them out. The work can be once in a lifetime or a regular thing, and the first step is to sit down and talk with someone involved in the work. She says her initial impetus for doing international aid work was ignorance – she thought she’d be “roughing it for a while.” Her recommendation to those just starting out: “go into the field and do something amazing.”
