Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

10 December 1999

In 1999, MSF was awarded the international Nobel Peace Prize, "in recognition of the organisation's pioneering humanitarian work on several continents." The award honours the work of MSF relief workers who bring medical assistance to more than 80 countries - over 20 of which are in conflict.

The 1999 Nobel Lecture, our acceptance speech, was delivered in Oslo, Norway, on December 10 by Dr. James Orbinski (Canada), then president of the MSF International Council. The ceremony was widely broadcast on television stations throughout the world and, for those in distant places, there was also a live Internet broadcast at NobelChannel.com. This marked the first time a Nobel speech had been broadcast over the internet.

Because MSF has directly witnessed the human costs resulting from a lack of drugs for neglected diseases, the proceeds from the Nobel Peace Prize have been used to establish the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative [ www.dndi.org ] with other international partners. This new organisation, incorporated in 2003, is designed to fund pilot projects world-wide that support scientific collaboration and facilitate clinical development, production, procurement and distribution of medical treatments for neglected diseases, such as sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis), kala azar (viceral leishmaniasis), Chagas disease, and malaria.