Dr. Michael Viola at Bosnian refugee camp

The roots of Medicine For Peace were planted during the El Salvadoran Civil War when a group of concerned American physicians supplied medicine to clinics in villages devastated by the war. Since that time, we have been steadfast in our mission – to provide medical care and humanitarian assistance to innocent victims of war. With our work in Haiti we have broadened our mission to include those suffering the burden of extreme poverty.

Medicine For Peace has undergone remarkable growth in the past twenty years; we have helped children in El Salvador, Bosnia, Iraq, Haiti and refugees and asylum seekers in the USA. Recently we have opened a Health Center for Victims of Torture to provide medical and mental health services to survivors of torture from many parts of the world. Yet, the essential character of the organization has not changed. We remain a voluntary organization in which doctors, nurses, engineers, and dedicated individuals selflessly donate time, energy, and resources to achieve our common goals.

Our financial support is primarily from individual donors and from small foundations, who take pride in seeing every dollar channeled into medical and mental health programs with minimal overhead. Our Executive Committee has the freedom to tackle difficult and often dangerous health problems, particularly for mothers and children. We are a small medical relief organization, but we are bold and often work in areas that larger organizations find difficult to negotiate.

The photos on our website will give you an idea of the breadth of our programs and what courageous and expert volunteers can accomplish when they have the support of generous and compassionate donors. We have partnered with numerous organizations and in doing so achieved considerably more than if we had gone this way alone. With your help we shall provide many more victims of war trauma and torture, particularly mothers and children, with hope for a life free from the violence of war and poverty.

Michael V. Viola, M.D.
Director