In October, Médecins sans frontières (MSF) was awarded the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize for providing medical aid to victims – regardless of ethnicity, religion and political affiliation – in disaster zones and areas with limited access to health care. The organization is led by Dr. James Orbinski, who holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Toronto (1998). Dr. Orbinski is International Council president of MSF and co-founder of Doctors Without Borders Canada (DWBC), formed in 1991. He has offered relief to victims of civil war in the former Zaire and to those affected by the 1992 cholera epidemic in Peru. In 1998, then Governor General Romeo LeBlanc awarded Dr. Orbinski the Meritorious Service Cross for his work as chief of mission with DWBC during the genocide in Rwanda.
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