Christos Christou

This article is about the International President of Médecins Sans Frontières. For the Cypriot politician of the same name, seeChristos 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 ofMédecins Sans Frontières

Christos Christouis a Greek physician who is the international president ofMédecins Sans Frontières(MSF).

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 succeedingJoanne Liuas the International President of MSF international.

Early life

Christou was born inTrikala,Greece.

Education

Christou has a degree in medicine fromAristotle University,aPh.Din surgery from theNational and Kapodistrian University,and a Master's degree in International Health and Health Crisis Management from theUniversity of Athens.

Career

As an emergency surgery specialist, Christou worked atNorth Middlesex University HospitalandKing’s College HospitalinLondon,UK.

He joined MSF in 2002 as a volunteer surgeon,working on refugee health issues, andHIVinCameroon,Iraq,South SudanandZambia.

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

Christou was elected to be the international president of MSF in June 2019.Later in 2019, he wrote an open letter toEuropean Unionleaders advocating that they cease their policy of stopping the journey ofasylum seekersin the Greek islands.

In 2020, responding to an open letter from MSF staff aboutinstitutional racism,he welcomed the critique, but also questioned how widespread racism was within MSF.He also criticizes governments for failing to put in place efficient healthcare plans at the beginning of thecoronavirus pandemic,especially in low income countries.

In 2021 Christou spoke about the importance of addressingclimate change,criticized pharmaceutical companies for not sharing COVID-19 vaccineintellectual property,and spoke of increasing humanitarian needs in Afghanistan.

In 2021 he was critical of Brazilian PresidentJair Bolsonaro'smanagement of theCOVID-19 pandemic.