At the time of writing, the amount dedicated to the appeal for the first year is $1.1m and over five years $2.8m. The head of fundraising for MSF in Britain put it like this, "Every donation provides an expression of solidarity of one person for another. Every contribution secures life-saving care, now and in the future."
Perhaps one of the reasons for the strength of support for the fund was the Guardian's long-term commitment to covering the story of HIV/Aids in Africa. During the main six-week period of the appeal, starting at the end of November and concluding in January, Guardian journalists reported from many of the 18 countries in Africa in which MSF has established free HIV/Aids clinics.
For Guardian Weekly it began with a special World Aids Day supplement in which Sarah Boseley returned to Malawi to continue the story of Grace Mathanga, with whom the Guardian has been in regular contact since February 2003, when we reported on why she and others like her were not getting the treatment they needed to stay alive. In the interval Grace's situation, and that of her surviving relatives, has been transformed and she herself is now working to help people with HIV/Aids.
As well as coverage in the daily and weekly papers' printed sections, a conspicuous contribution has been made by Guardian Unlimited, whose interactive treatment of the appeal articles, including video sequences and audio interviews, is one click from the home page (www.guardian.co.uk). It has demonstrated the way in which the printed paper and the online Guardian can be integrated, and some of the creative possibilities available only to its particular medium.
All the Guardian articles have now been gathered in a supplement for MSF to circulate to donors to the appeal. The supplement contains, among several pieces not previously published, a report from an MSF campaigner in South Africa, who makes the point that while it is important to acknowledge the successes, the work to be done remains daunting. He says: "Nobody sits back and admires how far we've come because there is not a single clinic that does not continue to be overwhelmed. There are the waiting lists of patients who continue to die without treatment, the complicated cases for which we still have nothing to offer, the small children who have to swallow masses of foul-tasting syrups . . ."
This is the closer context that cont-inues to demand our attention.
For a free copy of the Guardian/MSF supplement, Proof of Life, write to: James Kliffin, Médecins Sans Frontières UK, 67-74 Saffron Hill, London EC1N 8QX, UK; or email
James.Kliffin@london.msf.org
