Christos Christou

This article is about the International President of Médecins Sans Frontières. For the Cypriot politician of the same name, see Christos Christou (politician).

Christos Christou
Born	Trikala, Greece
Nationality	Greek
Alma mater	Aristotle University (M.D.) University of Athens (Master's) National and Kapodistrian University (PhD)
Known for	International President of Médecins Sans Frontières

Christos Christou is a Greek physician who is the international president of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).^[1][2]

Christou is from Greece where he studied medicine before working as a doctor in the United Kingdom. He joined MSF and worked as a surgeon in Cameroon, Iraq, and South Sudan before becoming elected as the Vice President, then President of MSF Greece and later succeeding Joanne Liu as the International President of MSF international.

Early life

Christou was born in Trikala, Greece.^[3]

Education

Christou has a degree in medicine from Aristotle University, a Ph.D in surgery from the National and Kapodistrian University, and a Master's degree in International Health and Health Crisis Management from the University of Athens.^[4][5]

Career

As an emergency surgery specialist, Christou worked at North Middlesex University Hospital and King’s College Hospital in London, UK.^[5]

He joined MSF in 2002 as a volunteer surgeon,^[4] working on refugee health issues, and HIV in Cameroon, Iraq, South Sudan and Zambia.^[5]

He worked as the General Secretary, and then as the vice president before being elected as the president of MSF Greece in 2005.^[5]

Christou was elected to be the international president of MSF in June 2019.^[4] Later in 2019, he wrote an open letter to European Union leaders advocating that they cease their policy of stopping the journey of asylum seekers in the Greek islands.^[6]

In 2020, responding to an open letter from MSF staff about institutional racism, he welcomed the critique, but also questioned how widespread racism was within MSF.^[7][8][9] He also criticizes governments for failing to put in place efficient healthcare plans at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, especially in low income countries.^[10]

In 2021 Christou spoke about the importance of addressing climate change, criticized pharmaceutical companies for not sharing COVID-19 vaccine intellectual property, and spoke of increasing humanitarian needs in Afghanistan.^[3]

In 2021 he was critical of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's management of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[11][12]

References

1. "Doctors Without Borders: International president Christos Christou meets with Jean Asselborn in Luxembourg". today.rtl.lu. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
2. Elbeshbishi, Sarah. "Deadly explosion in Beirut: How to help to the victims in Lebanon". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
3. "Climate change, a humanitarian crisis". delano.lu. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
4. "Ten Greeks Who Left Their Mark in 2019". GreekReporter.com. 2019-12-26. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
5. Newsroom. "Greek surgeon elected president of Doctors Without Borders | eKathimerini.com". www.ekathimerini.com. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
6. "Greek Photographer Anna Pantelia Shows Paradox of Greek Island and Europe's Failure". The Pappas Post. 2019-11-29. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
7. "Doctors Without Borders Responds To Charges Of 'Racism' From Its Staff". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
8. "MSF accused by staff of upholding white supremacy and colonialism". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
9. "Feelings running high at 'Eurocentric' MSF". The New Humanitarian. 2020-06-24. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
10. KIU. ".:: KIU International Desk: MSF President Dr Christou says Impact of COVID-19 "not Shared Equally" | Kampala International University, Uganda". www.kiu.ac.ug. Retrieved 2022-01-27.
11. "Babies dying from Covid in Brazil as 'humanitarian catastrophe' hits country". The Independent. 2021-04-16. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
12. Penna, Dominic; Carpani, Jessica (2021-04-15). "Europe passes one million Covid deaths". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2021-11-21.