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.
We fill gaps in India’s health system and provide medical care to people who would otherwise struggle to access it.
We have a number of long-standing projects in India, which we run in conjunction with the state authorities to address existing healthcare needs and emerging public health concerns.
We also run mobile clinics in remote areas of the country, where even preventable, treatable conditions such as malaria can assume life-threatening proportions.
Key Activities
01Infectious diseases
We provide medical and psychosocial care for people living with HIV and drug-resistant tuberculosis in and around Mumbai, a city of 22 million people, around 50,000 of whom have TB, and 4,000 are infected with drug-resistant strains of the disease. We also have a team providing specialised care for TB, HIV and hepatitis C in Manipur, and in 2017 we set up a dedicated hepatitis C clinic in Meerut city. Kala azar is also endemic and particularly prevalent in Bihar, where our focus is on addressing kala azar-HIV co-infection.
02Malnutrition
A third of the world’s severely acutely malnourished children live in India, according to joint estimates by UNICEF, the WHO and the World Bank Group. Since 2009, our teams have treated over 17,000 children with severe acute malnutrition in India in the states of Bihar and Jharkhand, using an innovative community-based model.
03Domestic and sexual violence
In the capital, Delhi, we provide medical and psychological care to victims of domestic and sexual violence, and raise awareness about the importance of seeking timely medical and psychological care. We work with community-based organisations, police, government protection agencies and the health ministry to highlight the clinic’s services and create an efficient referral system. We also engage the community in discussions on domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse.
04Mental healthcare
Since 2001 we have been offering counselling in Jammu and Kashmir, where years of conflict have taken a toll on people’s mental health. Our work includes raising awareness of the support available, reducing the stigma associated with mental health, and emphasising the importance of seeking assistance.
05Antibiotic resistance
We have been investigating antibiotic resistance in Asansol district since 2015, where we also run community outreach initiatives promoting the importance of good hygiene practices, and the rational prescription and consumption of antibiotics.
In 2018
56,000
56,
outpatient consultations
4,330
4,33
individual mental health consultations
2,330
2,33
people treated for hepatitis C
video
Explaining kala azar-HIV co-infection
Have you heard of kala azar?
Kala azar is a neglected but potentially fatal tropical disease. India accounts for 30 per cent of cases worldwide.
This short animation explains what kala azar is, how it relates to HIV, and what we are doing in response.
Since 80 per cent of India's kala azar cases are reported in Bihar, we set up a programme there in 2007.
People living with HIV are particularly vulnerable to kala azar, so since 2016 we have been focusing on treating patients co-infected with the two diseases, in partnership with the Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (RMRIMS) in Patna, Bihar.
1999
1999
Year MSF first worked in the country
India
MSF providing medical care and emergency distributions in Bihar, India
Project Update5 Sep 2008
India
MSF teams reach flood-affected areas in Bihar State, India
Project Update2 Sep 2008
India
More dead than alive - surviving kala azar
Project Update24 Jul 2008
Project Update
MSF activities in the South Asia floods
Project Update13 Aug 2007
India
The disease of the 'untouchables'
Project Update10 Aug 2007
India
After Indian court ruling, MSF hands over petition with 420,000 signatures to Novartis
Press Release8 Aug 2007
India
Indian court ruling in Novartis case protects India as the 'Pharmacy of the Developing World'
Project Update6 Aug 2007
Access to medicines
Former Swiss president joins call for Novartis to drop its case in India
Project Update16 Feb 2007
Global
MSF issues 'Top Ten' most underreported humanitarian stories of 2006
Press Release9 Jan 2007
India
Key dates on the Indian Patent Act and the Novartis Case
Project Update20 Dec 2006
Mental health
Kashmir: Violence and mental health
Report14 Dec 2006
India
Patent application for AIDS drug opposed for first time in India
Press Release30 Mar 2006
Related topics
Medical Activities
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world’s biggest global health crises. Killing 1.5 million people in 2018, TB is the world’s deadliest infectious disease (WHO).
Medical Activities
HIV/AIDS
Nearly 800,000 people die each year from HIV/AIDS, while nearly 2 million people become newly infected with the virus.
Medical Activities
Hepatitis C
Worldwide, an estimated 71 million people are infected with the hepatitis C virus, double the number living with HIV. While hepatitis C can be cured, few people have access to treatment.
Medical Activities
Kala azar
Two hundred million people are at risk of infection with kala azar - one of the world's most dangerous topical diseases. Only malaria is more deadly.
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.
Medical Activities
Malnutrition
More than 224 million children around the world last year suffered from malnutrition. It is the underlying contributing factor in nearly half of the deaths of children under five years of age.
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
Women's health
An estimated 99 per cent of women who die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications live in developing countries. Most of these deaths are preventable.
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
Antibiotic resistance
Antibiotic resistance is a serious and growing phenomenon in contemporary medicine and has emerged as one of the pre-eminent public health concerns of the 21st century.
