Visual storytelling lies at the heart of Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF’s) social mission. Our images are crucial in allowing us to bear witness to crises, inform the public, inspire action, and raise the funds that allow us to continue our lifesaving activities.
The power of an image lies in its ability to tell a story, but this cannot come at the expense of the dignity, privacy, or agency of the people depicted. In telling the stories of our staff and the people we assist, we need to do so with great responsibility – both to those being photographed and filmed, and to our audience.
Every image must reflect the core values of MSF: humanity, respect, and integrity. By holding ourselves accountable to these standards, the stories we tell will then amplify voices, rather than silence them, and build understanding, rather than perpetuate stereotypes.
Bearing witness
Together with our medical action, we speak out about the underlying causes of people’s suffering and advocate change. This speaking out is often referred to in MSF as témoignage, which in French means ‘to bear witness.’ For us, this means a willingness to speak out about what we see, to share what our staff and the people we assist tell us.
Visual content plays a crucial role in our mission of bearing witness. It provides a powerful medium that draws attention to humanitarian crises, such as conflicts, disease outbreaks, natural and human-made disasters, and exclusion from health care.
We share the stories of people we work with and assist through written testimonies, photography, videography, audio, and other documenting mediums.
Portraying medical action with dignity
Gathering images in health facilities is sensitive, as it directly touches on the dignity, privacy, and vulnerability of patients. In these environments, people are often in distress, undergoing treatment, or facing serious health challenges.
Patients in hospitals are entitled to an environment where they feel safe, respected, and protected from overexposure. In medical settings, we approach photography and videography with extreme care and ensure that it is only done with the patient’s full understanding and voluntary consent.
MSF’s commitment to dignity and respect is a shared core principle in our Visual Storytelling Guidelines and in the Patient Charter. This means patients are not only respected during their treatment, but also in how they are represented in public communications. They must be portrayed in a way that respects their agency, honours their humanity, avoids perpetuating stereotypes, and does not exploit their suffering.
In practice, in our visual storytelling, we focus on the process of alleviating suffering and providing medical care, not solely on suffering.