Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil, Joachim Ladefoged, and James Nachtwey, five internationally acclaimed photographers from the international photo agency “VII” traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo with the humanitarian organization Doctors without Borders. Their photos are a documentation of the sufferings of the Congolese people as they struggle to survive a war that has remained virtually invisible to the rest of the world. Estimates say that this war and its aftermath cost the lives of 3.8 million people between 1998 and 2004. In the past few moths, armed conflicts again brought evacuations, streams of refugees, and a Cholera epidemic. Not only violence, but also the collapse of the public health system and the destruction of health-care infrastructure take an enormous daily death toll. The exhibition wants to bring this war to greater international public attention.

Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) is the largest medical emergency aid organization worldwide which provides relief for people with no or insufficient access to health care due to natural disasters, armed conflicts or in consequence of expulsion, displacement or social crises. The main objective of the missions is to secure health care for the suffering population. Psychological support of traumatized individuals also is part of many aid programs. In case of need Doctors Without Borders also distributes relief goods and food and supplies clean drinking water and sanitary facilities. Occasionally, aid and relief programs are also implemented in rich countries where entire segments of the population are excluded from health care.
Every year, about 3,000 doctors, nurses, and logistics personnel volunteer for missions in about eighty countries of the world. They provide humanitarian assistance on both sides of a conflict, irrespective of ethnicity or political or religious conviction.
 

An exhibition by Ärzte ohne Grenzen/Doctors Without Borders in cooperation with the MAK.

Catalogue Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil, Joachim Ladefoged, James Nachtwey: "Democratic Republic of the Congo: Forgotten War", English, 128 pages, de.MO: New York, 2005.