Teacher's Guide for FACES ^® Doctors Without Borders

How does the photograph on page 6 illustrate the themes of the article?

OUTLINING: If you have taught outlining, have students outline main points of the article

Variation: As an introduction to outlining, have students draw or map the sequence of events in the chronology of starting a project.

SMALL GROUP/ORGANIZING INFORMATION: Divide class into small groups and have them make two lists: the obstacles that volunteers faced and the lessons that they learned. Bring class together to share their information. Then ask, what kinds of volunteer programs do you or can you participate in your neighborhood or local community? If you already volunteer, what have you learned from volunteering?

CREATIVE WRITING: Have students write a character sketch of the most unforgettable person they have met. Challenge them to make their character come alive on paper!

CLASS DISCUSSION:

• What are the goals of the Access to Medicine Campaign?
• How are they being accomplished?
• What is the goal of the Neglected Disease Campaign?
• What has it accomplished so far?

The American Declaration of Independence promises the right to life, liberty, and happiness.

• Do you think people should also have the right to medicine? Why or why not?
• How do you think the price of medicine should be determined?
• Should medicine be priced differently in different countries?

ORGANIZING INFORMATION (Math/Geography):

Graph the numbers of people affected, both infected and killed, by the listed diseases each year. If you can""'t find the numbers in the article, try your skills at web research.

Map the locations of the different diseases on a world map. Compare your map with the missions of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on pages 4 and 5.

What conclusions can you draw from displaying the information in this way?

PERSUASIVE WRITING/LETTER OR ESSAY (Language Arts)

Write an essay or a letter to the editor of a newspaper. Persuade readers to support a program to provide medical treatment and medicines for sick residents of poor countries. Use one or more of the "lives" in this article to support your arguments.

Variation: Students may wish to present this information orally as a persuasive speech.

SMALL GROUP or WHOLE CLASS WORK: Before reading the article, list what you think would be priorities in an emergency medical kit plan for Doctors Without Borders. Read and discuss the article together. What part of the emergency kit plans surprised you?

READING FOR INFORMATION:

1. What is famine? (a widespread shortage of food resulting in starvation for many people)
2. What are the causes of famine? (natural disasters such as crop shortage, drought, and floods AND manmade disasters such as economic policies, war, and movement of people such as refugees)
3. What is the difference between starvation and malnutrition? (Starvation is lack of enough food; malnutrition is infection and sickness from hunger.)
4. Distinguish between the two types of malnutrition. (Maramus results from lack of sufficient calories to stay alive; kwashiorkor results from lack of sufficient protein. Maramus causes people to feel extremely weak and may result in death if people are not fed. Kwashiorkor causes lingering illness and may cause permanent physical injury and mental retardation.)
5. What is the MUAC? (A measure of the Middle Upper Arm Circumference that measures the degree of malnutrition.)
6. What does a Red Zone MUAC mean and how will the patient be treated? (Severe malnutrition and starvation risk; many small meals of high-energy milk and continuous supervision. After recovery is begun, larger feedings of high protein and calorie meals including protein biscuits, porridge, and bananas.)
7. What does a Yellow/Orange Zone MUAC mean and how will the patient be treated? (Moderate malnutrition; children will receive supplementary nutrition and mothers will receive a weekly distribution of high protein/high protein foods.)
8. Where did Doctors Without Borders most recently work with malnutrition and starvation? (In Africa: Darfur in the Sudan, Chad, and Uganda)

COMPUTER SKILLS/SMALL GROUP: Assign computer time to small groups to view the website www.refugeecamp.org and answer one of the questions listed in the last paragraph on p. 37:

1. What kinds of shelters are used in different climates?
2. How is food distributed?
3. How is clean water and waste disposal essential to survival?
4. What is epidemic control and how is it maintained?
5. How are basic health care services delivered to refugees?

Have students share their information through discussion, posterboard presentations, or skits.

DISCUSSION:

1. Why are children with AIDS neglected?
2. Why is it difficult to treat them?
3. What is being done for them?
4. What can you, as an individual or class, do about this issue?

ESSAY/DISCUSSION: The Nobel Committee receives nominations for the Peace Prize from all over the world. What organization or person would you nominate for the Nobel Peace Prize and why?

Review the questions students had in the beginning session and discuss whether they were answered. What other questions have arisen in their discussions of Doctors Without Borders? How would they like to share or act on the information they have discovered? Guide students to a group project, e.g., creating a school hallway blackboard about malnutrition, collecting their best writing in a class-made book for the school library, writing letters to the local newspaper about the issues raised by the magazine, volunteering as a class to supply lunch or dinner to a homeless shelter, etc. Assist them to accomplish their project.

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Updated: 8/20/08 11:11 am
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