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About us

Who We Are

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

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How we work

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

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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.

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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.

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What we do

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

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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.

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MSF Websites

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

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

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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.

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Patient blogs

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

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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.

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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.

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ARHP

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Humanitarian Law

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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War in Gaza:: find out how we're responding
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32 Results For "fistula"
 
Congo - Yasuyoshi Chiba - MSF Delivers 2011
Women's health

Maternal death: The avoidable crisis

MSF’s briefing paper, “Maternal Death: The Avoidable Crisis” details how the provision of emergency obstetric care to pregnant women in acute and chronic humanitarian crises can have a direct impact and save women’s lives. Report - 8 Mar 2012
 
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Democratic Republic of Congo

MSF staff Returns to Shamwana, Katanga, to resume medical care

MSF returned to continue its medical care in Shamwana, Katanga province, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Saturday, after it suspended its operations two days earlier due to fighting in the town that displaced the entire population. Press Release - 6 Mar 2012
 
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Chad

Preventing another cholera epidemic

A cholera epidemic in Chad in 2010-2011 was the largest to hit the country in the last 15 years, with more than 17, 000 registered cases. Over the last year, MSF treated more than 12,700 patients – approximately three quarters of all the cases in the country. In order to prevent another emergency, there must be improved access to uncontaminated water and sanitation facilities. Project Update - 11 Jan 2012
 
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Fistula

Fistula reconstructive surgery returns lives, dignity and well-being

Sigrid describes what took place in one of the MSF fistula camps, from mid-November to the end of December, 2010, in Boguila, a town in western Central African Republic. In the second of two fistula camps that MSF organized in the country, 65 women were treated. Voices from the Field - 8 Mar 2011
 
Nigeria 2011 Yann Libessart / MSF
Nigeria

Preventing and treating obstetric fistulas in Nigeria

Obstetric fistulas, most often the result of prolonged obstructed labor, is an opening that occurs between the bladder and the vagina, or between the rectum and the vagina and causes a woman to become incontinent, among other devastating medical and social consequences. According to the UN, an estimated two million women live with fistulas today—about half of them in Nigeria. Voices from the Field - 8 Mar 2011
 
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Fistula

The 'backyard disease'

In Burundi, MSF set up a special centre at the Gitega regional hospital that is devoted exclusively to these operations. Every year it operates on 350 women. Project Update - 7 Mar 2011
 
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Women's health

The other Butterfly Effect: MSF treats women injured in childbirth

An estimated two million women live with fistula worldwide, most in Africa. This problem is largely hidden because it often affects young women who live in poor and remote areas, with very limited to no access maternal health care. Project Update - 7 Mar 2011
 
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Chad

100 women operated for obstetric fistula so far this year in Chad

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been running a fistula project in Abéché General Hospital in eastern Chad since January 2008, where a team performs surgical operations on patients to repair their internal injuries and provide a cure for their incontinence. Project Update - 21 Sep 2009
 
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Mali

Nomadic groups challenge measles vaccination effort for 400,000 children in Mali

Overall, around 100 Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff, the majority from Mali, are working to address the measles outbreak. Project Update - 13 Jul 2009
 
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Somalia

MSF activities in Somalia - December 2007

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has worked continuously in southern and central Somalia for more than 16 years and is currently providing medical care in 11 regions in the country: Bakool, Banadir, Bay, Galgadud, Hiraan, Lower Juba, Middle Juba, Mudug, Middle Shabelle, Lower Shabelle and Puntland. Project Update - 31 Jan 2008
Cholera intervention in South Kivu
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Independent medical humanitarian assistance

We provide medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. Our teams are made up of tens of thousands of health professionals, logistic and administrative staff - most of them hired locally. Our actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of independence and impartiality. We are a non-profit, self-governed, member-based organisation.

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