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PODCASTS
CAMPAIGN
LA VOIX EST LIBRE
ELLE ARRIVERA JUSQU’À TOI
To mark the fortieth anniversary of its creation, Médecins du Monde has decided to look back over its history and go behind the scenes of the key events to have marked the world and the organisation. This has led to the creation of a series of podcasts created with Radio France and entitled “La voix est libre”. Women and men involved in our programmes now or in the past have given us their stories from within this history, anecdotes and thoughts which, over the years, have shaped the identity of Médecins du Monde and recorded its actions in the fight for access to care and social justice.
Released against the backdrop of the global pandemic, Médecins du Monde’s 2020 end-of-year campaign, produced with the agency Marcel, stresses the urgent nature of the fight for universal access to healthcare. As COVID-19 rages on, the campaign highlights Médecins du Monde’s commitment to providing care despite the obstacles. As the organisation’s new tagline affirms, “Health First”.
From the original mission to provide help at sea on the “Île de Lumière" to the launch of projects in France, the quest for justice during the Balkan wars, assistance to the most vulnerable in Afghanistan, post-earthquake efforts in Haiti, support for civilians and medical personnel caught up in the Syria conflict, the fight for women’s rights and health, access to care for migrants in the Calais jungle, combatting the excesses of the pharmaceutical industry, and so on. Throughout the ten episodes that make up “La voix est libre” (including a conversation between one of its co-founders and the current president), Médecins du Monde paints its portrait through the doubts, challenges and small victories that have marked its history. The project, which highlights the personal passion and commitment of the volunteers, employees and partners who lend their voices and contribute their memories, also reveals the major upheavals and future challenges facing the organisation and humanitarian aid in general.
“It’s coming for you” (“Elle arrivera jusqu’à toi”). Like a warning, the phrase is repeated in the campaign film. It reminds us that when a virus spreads, it pays no attention to borders or privilege or grey areas. It threatens everybody, whether you are powerful, whether you are trying to flee, whether you deny its existence, and whether you are isolated or invisible. Then, at a key point in the middle of the film, the threat becomes resolution, tenacity. That of the members of Médecins du Monde who lead the daily battle for access to Rights and Healthcare for all. Because if a disease can strike indiscriminately, Médecins du Monde will defend health in the same way, with the same energy. Right at the heart of the actions of Médecins du Monde, in order to cast light on the day-to-day lives of its teams, the film shows members of the organisation (volunteers and employees) as well as some of those it supports who have agreed to take part. The actor Denis Ménochet is the voice of Médecins du Monde’s campaign. The film is accompanied by three visuals addressing different topics at the heart of the programmes led by the organisation: isolation, migration, conflict. They translate the organisation’s struggle into one message. Because “health is a fundamental right. Nothing will stop us defending this right, all around the world”.
ADVOCACY AND CAMPAIGNS
