en ع
Back to main menu

About us

Who We Are

Learn about our mission, our charter and principles, and who we are.

Learn more
How we work

See what triggers an intervention and how supply and logistics allow our teams to respond quickly.

Learn more
How we're run

Discover our governance and what it means to be an association. Find a quick visual guide to our offices around the world.

Learn more
Reports and financials

Read through our annual financial and activity reports, and find out about where our funds come from and how they are spent.

Learn more

What we do

Médecins Sans Frontières brings medical humanitarian assistance to victims of conflict, natural disasters, epidemics or healthcare exclusion.

View all topics Activities by country

Where we work

In more than 70 countries, Médecins Sans Frontières provides medical humanitarian assistance to save lives and ease the suffering of people in crisis situations.

View all countries

MSF Websites

A Global Network
Our offices around the world
Our offices around the world
Other Sites
View Resource Centre
MSF Association

Our staff “own” and manage MSF, making sure that we stay true to our mission and principles, through the MSF Associations.

GO TO SITE
Access Campaign

We set up the MSF Access Campaign in 1999 to push for access to, and the development of, life-saving and life-prolonging medicines, diagnostic tests and vaccines for people in our programmes and beyond.

GO TO SITE
Patient blogs

Hear directly from the inspirational people we help as they talk about their experiences dealing with often neglected, life-threatening diseases.

GO TO SITE
CRASH

Based in Paris, CRASH conducts and directs studies and analysis of MSF actions. They participate in internal training sessions and assessment missions in the field.

GO TO SITE
UREPH

Based in Geneva, UREPH (or Research Unit) aims to improve the way MSF projects are implemented in the field and to participate in critical thinking on humanitarian and medical action.

GO TO SITE
ARHP

Based in Barcelona, ARHP documents and reflects on the operational challenges and dilemmas faced by the MSF field teams.

GO TO SITE
MSF Analysis

Based in Brussels, MSF Analysis intends to stimulate reflection and debate on humanitarian topics organised around the themes of migration, refugees, aid access, health policy and the environment in which aid operates.

GO TO SITE
MSF Supply

This logistical and supply centre in Brussels provides storage of and delivers medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions.

GO TO SITE
MSF Logistique

This supply and logistics centre in Bordeaux, France, provides warehousing and delivery of medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions.

GO TO SITE
Amsterdam Procurement Unit

This logistical centre in Amsterdam purchases, tests, and stores equipment including vehicles, communications material, power supplies, water-processing facilities and nutritional supplements.

GO TO SITE
Southern Africa Medical Unit

SAMU provides strategic, clinical and implementation support to various MSF projects with medical activities related to HIV and TB. This medical unit is based in Cape Town, South Africa.

GO TO SITE
Brazilian Medical Unit

BRAMU specialises in neglected tropical diseases, such as dengue and Chagas, and other infectious diseases. This medical unit is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

GO TO SITE
MSF Medical Guidelines

Our medical guidelines are based on scientific data collected from MSF’s experiences, the World Health Organization (WHO), other renowned international medical institutions, and medical and scientific journals.

GO TO SITE
Manson Unit

The Manson Unit is a London, UK-based team of medical specialists who provide medical and technical support, and conduct research for MSF.

GO TO SITE
Epicentre

Providing epidemiological expertise to underpin our operations, conducting research and training to support our goal of providing medical aid in areas where people are affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or excluded from health care.

GO TO SITE
Evaluation Units

Evaluation Units have been established in Vienna, Stockholm, and Paris, assessing the potential and limitations of medical humanitarian action, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of our medical humanitarian work.

GO TO SITE
LGBTQI+ Inclusion in Health Settings

MSF works with LGBTQI+ populations in many settings over the last 25-30 years. LGBTQI+ people face healthcare disparities with limited access to care and higher disease rates than the general population.

GO TO SITE
LUXOR

The Luxembourg Operational Research (LuxOR) unit coordinates field research projects and operational research training, and provides support for documentation activities and routine data collection.

GO TO SITE
MSF Academy for Healthcare

To upskill and provide training to locally-hired MSF staff in several countries, MSF has created the MSF Academy for Healthcare.

GO TO SITE
Humanitarian Law

This Guide explains the terms, concepts, and rules of humanitarian law in accessible and reader-friendly alphabetical entries.

GO TO SITE
MSF Paediatric Days

The MSF Paediatric Days is an event for paediatric field staff, policy makers and academia to exchange ideas, align efforts, inspire and share frontline research to advance urgent paediatric issues of direct concern for the humanitarian field.

GO TO SITE
MSF Foundation

The MSF Foundation aims to create a fertile arena for logistics and medical knowledge-sharing to meet the needs of MSF and the humanitarian sector as a whole.

GO TO SITE
DNDi

A collaborative, patients’ needs-driven, non-profit drug research and development organisation that is developing new treatments for neglected diseases, founded in 2003 by seven organisations from around the world.

GO TO SITE

A brief description of HIV/AIDS prevention programmes in the CIS

War in Gaza:: find out how we're responding
Learn more
  • Home
  • HIV/AIDS
  • A brief description of HIV/AIDS prevention programmes in the CIS
Project Update6 June 2001

Mass media campaigns

Using nation-wide TV and radio stations, billboards, and educational leaflets, the mass media campaigns increase awareness about safe sex and condom use. They target young Russians between 15 and 29 years of age, and are developed in close collaboration with the Russian NGO "Focus". In June 2001, MSF and "Focus" will launch its 4th annual media campaign.

"Harm Reduction" program for injecting drug users

The "Harm Reduction" program, started in 1996, targets intravenous drugs users, commercial sex workers, and health professionals. In the streets of Moscow, MSF teams conduct outreach work, offering counselling to injecting drug users and information on how to avoid drug-related health risks including HIV. The "Harm Reduction" program has also offered training to 200 health professionals who work in AIDS centres, narcological hospitals, and local NGOs in 60 cities throughout the country. The training focuses on the development and implementation of HIV/AIDS prevention programs for injecting drugs users. It has been adopted by the Russian Medical Academy as part of its curriculum. As a result of a collaborative effort - training offered by MSF, funding by the Open Society Institute / International Harm Reduction Development, and implementation by Russian authorities - harm reduction prevention programs in 35 cities are currently up and running.

AIDS info project

Run jointly with the Russian NGO "AIDS Infoshare", this program's main activity is the collection, translation, production and dissemination of informational materials on HIV/AIDS. It also runs a hotline and has compiled a comprehensive "Resource Guide" of organizations working on HIV/AIDS/STDs which has been distributed to health professionals and institutions Russia-wide. Six new regional HIV/AIDS information centres have been created within existing local NGOs.

Health promotion in the Russian prison system

This pilot program started in July 1999 and is slated to last three years. In collaboration with the Russian Ministry of Justice, a variety of preventive health activities are being developed and implemented in prison colonies and pre-trial detention centers ("SIZOs") in four regions of the Russian Federation. These activities are integrally linked with the other prevention programs in the civil society. PROGRAM ACTIVITIES IN UKRAINE AND MONGOLIA

Ukraine

In October 1999, MSF's HIV/AIDS prevention programs extended to Ukraine, the CIS country hardest hit by the virus so far. Today there are more than a quarter million HIV/AIDS cases (UNAIDS), and the epidemic has spread beyond the small high-risk groups of drug users and sex workers, into the wider community. MSF's main activities include: a mass media campaign aimed at tackling the stigmatisation and discrimination directed at people with HIV/AIDS; training on the development and implementation of harm reduction programs; a "care and support" program to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child and psycho-social support to family members of HIV infected people.

Mongolia

Program activities began in February 1999 and include safe sex campaigns to increase awareness about HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted disease, the development of information centres, and the training of 120 health professionals in pre- and post HIV test counselling and in the prevention of STDs. EXPANDING AND HANDING OVER PROGRAMS IN 2001

The creation of a new NGO: "Aids Foundation East-West"

Given the growing need to respond to the development of an HIV/AIDS epidemic in the CIS, the founders of MSF's first HIV/AIDS prevention programs in the region have created a new public health NGO, "Aids Foundation East-West" (AFEW). This new NGO will become operational in the summer of 2001, and will focus on HIV/AIDS prevention, and care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Many of the programs run by MSF in Russia, Ukraine, and Mongolia will be continued under AFEW. Others will be handed over to governmental or non-governmental counterparts. The outreach program in the streets of Moscow, for example, will be run by the Russian NGO "Return to Life" as of April 2001.

The programs created in collaboration with "Aids Infoshare" will continue to develop under this well established Russian NGO. And the safe sex campaigning are gradually being handed over to "Focus". MSF will help ensure a smooth transition by backing "Aids Foundation East-West" with funding until the end of the year 2001.

The two other main financial partners to date are the Open Society Institute and the Dutch government. AFEW aims to assess the needs for prevention programs in various CIS countries - most probably starting with Belarus, Kazakhstan, or Moldova - and to implement programs in at least five former republics of the Soviet Union before the end of the year 2003.