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.
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.
Read through case studies where we openly examine and analyse all our actions and decision-making processes during humanitarian emergencies that have led us to speak out.
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.
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.
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.
Every year, an estimated 500,000 people flee extreme violence and poverty in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and head north through Mexico to find safety.
The high levels of violence in the region, known as the Northern Triangle of Central America, are comparable to that in war zones where MSF has worked for decades.
For Central Americans forced from their homes, a history of trauma is often compounded by a pattern of continuing violence and injustice on the paths taken northward. Victimisation of migrants is common—including robbery, sexual assault, and torture at the hands of smugglers, and even abuse by government officials responsible for protecting people from harm. Access to basic medical services such as prenatal care, treatment of paediatric illnesses, or management of chronic diseases is rarely available.
We provide medical care to those who need it most, regardless of their nationality or official legal status.
MSF Pulse: Why are people still seeking asylum in the US?
Why are people seeking asylum in the US?
The US government under Donald Trump is stepping up deportations and dismantling legal protections for refugees and asylum seekers, yet people are still seeking asylum in the US. MSF Canada's Wayne Leung looks at why so many people fleeing countries like Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador continue to risk trauma, separation, deportation and incarceration in the US.
Central American Migration
US asylum restrictions are deepening Mexican border crisis
Press Release13 Dec 2018
Refugees, IDPs and people on the move
"Migration is not a crime. Saving lives is not a crime"
Speech11 Dec 2018
Honduras
“People here are deeply affected by violence, especially women”
Voices from the Field29 Oct 2018
Mexico
Tending deep wounds in Mexico
Voices from the Field29 Oct 2018
Central American Migration
"Leaving the country to seek asylum is often the only option for survival"
Interview29 Oct 2018
Mexico
Abductions and violence, the price to pay to cross Mexico
Project Update3 Sep 2018
Mexico
An unsafe country for thousands of refugees fleeing violence in Central America
Press Release20 Jun 2018
Mexico
“One in four patients we assist has experienced violence”
Project Update24 Jul 2017
Central American Migration
No way to safety for people fleeing extreme violence in Central America’s Northern Triangle
Report12 May 2017
Related topics
The Americas
Mexico
Every year, an estimated 400,000 people flee violence and poverty in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala and enter Mexico with the hope of reaching the United States. In Mexico, they are systematically exposed to further episodes of violence.
29,200
outpatient consultations
8,600
individual mental health consultations
3,000
group mental health sessions
The Americas
El Salvador
In 2018 MSF returned to El Salvador to provide healthcare to communities affected by growing violence and insecurity.
The Americas
Honduras
Honduras has experienced years of political, economic and social instability, and has one of the highest rates of violence in the world. This has great medical, psychological and social consequences for the population.
6,800
antenatal consultations
2,300
individual mental health consultations
800
postnatal consultations
The Americas
Guatemala
MSF started working in Guatemala in 1984 and closed its projects in 2012.
