International President of Medecins Sans Frontieres
This article is about the International President of Medecins Sans Frontieres. For the Cypriot politician of the same name, see
Christos Christou (politician)
.
Christos Christou
is a Greek physician who is the international president of
Medecins Sans Frontieres
(MSF).
[1]
[2]
Christou is from Greece where he studied medicine before working as a doctor in the United Kingdom. He joined MSF and worked as a surgeon in Cameroon, Iraq, and South Sudan before becoming elected as the Vice President, then President of MSF Greece and later succeeding
Joanne Liu
as the International President of MSF international.
Early life
[
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]
Christou was born in
Trikala
, Greece.
[3]
Education
[
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]
Christou has a degree in medicine from
Aristotle University
, a
Ph.D
in surgery from the
National and Kapodistrian University
, and a Master's degree in International Health and Health Crisis Management from the
University of Athens
.
[4]
[5]
Career
[
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]
As an emergency surgery specialist, Christou worked at
North Middlesex University Hospital
and
King’s College Hospital
in
London
, UK.
[5]
He joined MSF in 2002 as a volunteer surgeon,
[4]
working on refugee health issues, and
HIV
in
Cameroon
,
Iraq
,
South Sudan
and
Zambia
.
[5]
He worked as the General Secretary, and then as the vice president before being elected as the president of MSF Greece in 2005.
[5]
Christou was elected to be the international president of MSF in June 2019.
[4]
Later in 2019, he wrote an open letter to
European Union
leaders advocating that they cease their policy of stopping the journey of
asylum seekers
in the Greek islands.
[6]
In 2020, responding to an open letter from MSF staff about
institutional racism
, he welcomed the critique, but also questioned how widespread racism was within MSF.
[7]
[8]
[9]
He also criticizes governments for failing to put in place efficient healthcare plans at the beginning of the
coronavirus pandemic
, especially in low income countries.
[10]
In 2021 Christou spoke about the importance of addressing
climate change
, criticized pharmaceutical companies for not sharing COVID-19 vaccine
intellectual property
, and spoke of increasing humanitarian needs in Afghanistan.
[3]
In 2021 he was critical of Brazilian President
Jair Bolsonaro's
management of the
COVID-19 pandemic
.
[11]
[12]
References
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]
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History
| 1850s, Creation of
the Red Cross
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Post
WWII
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21st-century
reform attempts
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Humanitarian
organizations
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Analysis and reporting
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Notable people
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Donors and funding
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Major emergencies
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Standards,
power, abuse
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Aid worker safety
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Related fields
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Related articles
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