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About Us

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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Accountability

Read the policies, reports, and plans on how we address issues like racism and reduce our carbon footprint, ensuring our actions align with the highest ethical standards.

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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
Featured Ebola Gaza Israel war Humanitarian aid cuts

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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Featured Haiti Palestine Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

MSF Websites

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

MSF Access pushes 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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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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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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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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MSF Science Portal

Our digital portal dedicated to sharing the latest medical evidence from our humanitarian activities around the globe.

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Noma

Noma is a preventable and treatable neglected disease, but 90 per cent of people will die within the first two weeks of infection if they do not receive treatment.

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TIC

The TIC is aiming to change how MSF works to better meet the evolving needs of our patients.

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Telemedicine

MSF's telemedicine hub aims to overcome geographic barriers for equitable, accessible, and quality patient care.

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Sweden Innovation Unit

Launched in 2012, the MSF Sweden Innovation Unit deploys a human-centered approach for promoting a culture of innovation within MSF.

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Geo MSF

The GeoMSF platform is a dynamic one-stop-shop website for all of MSF's GIS related services and products. Access maps and applications through the catalogue, request geographical support, or produce a map on GeoMSF.

GeoMSF
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Rohingya refugees meet up and talk in the streets of the camps. Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, October 2023 © Ro Yassin Abdumonab Des réfugiés rohingyas se rassemblent et discutent dans les camps de Cox’s Bazar. Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, octobre 2023 © Ro Yassin Abdumonab

Social violence and exclusion

Rohingya refugees meet up and talk in the streets of the camps. Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, October 2023.
Ebola disease in DRC: find out how we're responding
Learn more
Many people are unable to access healthcare simply because of who they are. They may be afraid to seek help, or are excluded because they are forced to live outside of mainstream societal bounds.

People who are often excluded from healthcare include undocumented migrants, unaccompanied children, members of the LGBTQI+ community, people who engage in sex work, have mental health conditions, use drugs, and/or are experiencing houselessness, and people in prison. Sometimes, entire communities are systematically neglected by relevant authorities. These might be people who live in informal neighbourhoods, or communities affected by criminal violence and gang warfare.

Our teams provide medical, psychological and social support to people cut off from health services. Our work also involves drawing attention to the obstacles patients face in accessing healthcare.

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War and conflict

More than one third of our humanitarian and medical assistance is for people affected by armed conflict.
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Refugees, IDPs and people on the move

There are many reasons for flight, including war, persecution, conflict, natural disaster, destitution and repression. With health and well-being jeopardised, the lives of the most vulnerable can be at risk.
"There is nothing good about this job. Every day I think about whether to leave or continue, but I can't choose to leave, I have no money." Hamida Ajida (false name to protect her identity) says she has no choice: engaging in sex work is her only option. At 29, she has been in the business for three years now. She works in Dedza, a small, dusty town on the border with Mozambique where MSF runs the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Sexual Violence Program. Her story is the story of so many women in the same situation: Three years ago, Hamida ran a business selling vegetables and charckoal in Mangochi, where she was married with three children. Between her and her husband, they were supporting the family, but one day, without any explanation, her husband left her for another woman, a fact that changed Hamida's future: since then she could not support herself financially and had to start working as a sex worker in a bar in Dedza. In a weak voice and with her eyes on her knees, she says: "I started in 2020 to feed my children and my four siblings. Every month I have to send money for them, but it's never enough." Hamida charges 4,000 Malawi kwacha (3.20 euros) per service, and pays 2,500 kwacha a day to rent the room where she works. She says that when everything was going well she could have as many as 8 clients, but that is not the case now. "Nowadays I have one or even none. Many times I go to sleep on an empty stomach." She says the biggest challenge she faces is dealing with men who take advantage of her by not honoring price agreements. "When we finish, some clients take the money and leave. We have no one to protect us from threats and physical violence." Until three months ago, Hamida's three-year-old son lived with her in the room, but she took him away because the clients did not like having a baby hanging around the room. Thanks to the goodwill of Mercy, a woman who sometimes went to do laundry and food at the bar, Hamida managed to leave the son with her t
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.

Social violence and exclusion

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