In more than 70 countries, Médecins Sans Frontières provides medical humanitarian assistance to save lives and ease the suffering of people in crisis situations.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This logistical and supply centre in Brussels provides storage of and delivers medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions.
This supply and logistics centre in Bordeaux, France, provides warehousing and delivery of medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions.
This logistical centre in Amsterdam purchases, tests, and stores equipment including vehicles, communications material, power supplies, water-processing facilities and nutritional supplements.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Luxembourg Operational Research (LuxOR) unit coordinates field research projects and operational research training, and provides support for documentation activities and routine data collection.
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.
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.
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.
Thousands of people have been killed or wounded and millions displaced during years of bloody – but largely neglected – conflict in the Central African Republic.
MSF sees the direct consequences of violence on the health of the individuals and entire communities we serve. Wounded people needing care. Children unable to reach medical facilities during malaria season. The interruption of vaccination coverage and treatment for HIV and tuberculosis (TB). Women left without assistance before, during and after giving birth.
Just the sound of a car makes people fear for their lives - violence in Central African Republic
Project Update19 Apr 2006
Meningitis
Multiple outbreaks as meningitis season starts in Africa
Project Update31 Mar 2004
Chad
Still no food or shelter as the refugee influx continues
Press Release18 Mar 2003
Central African Republic
MSF launches emergency intervention in the north of the Central African Republic
Press Release24 Feb 2003
Central African Republic
MSF assists civilians fleeing the fighting following a coup d'état attempt
Press Release30 Oct 2002
Related topics
Crisis Settings
War and conflict
Around one-quarter of our humanitarian and medical assistance is for populations caught in armed conflict.
In Focus
Attacks on medical care
Attacks against medical facilities and health workers, whether deliberate or indiscriminate, are part of generalised violence and atrocities committed against civilians in armed conflict. They deprive populations of health services, often when they need them the most.
Medical Activities
Child health
Around the world, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams are working to protect the health of children.
Medical Activities
Malaria
Each year, malaria kills nearly half a million people. 70 per cent of all deaths are children under five years of age.
Medical Activities
HIV/AIDS
Nearly 700,000 people died from AIDS, while 1.7 million people became newly infected with the HIV virus in 2019.
Medical Activities
Sexual violence
Sexual violence affects millions of people, brutally shattering the lives of women, men and children. It is a medical emergency, but there is often a dire lack of healthcare services for victims.
Medical Activities
Mental health
Where we work, we may see people with a mental illness or confronting distressing situations, such as violence, loss or displacement. Mental health support can be crucial to help people cope.
Up Next
Violence, insecurity and a barely functioning health system
