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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.

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Featured Cholera Gaza Israel war Mediterranean migration

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
Every morning the camp residents rush to fill their water buckets. Access to water is a major problem for the displaced.
Dr Abu Wasim, a plastic surgeon, stands next to a damaged ward on the upper floors of a hospital in east Aleppo after it was hit by an airstrike in mid-October 2016. He is one of the 7 surgeons left in East Aleppo.
MSF and SOS Mediterannee Search and Rescue personnel operate in appalling conditions in the Mediterranean sea, 22 December 2016, as they help a boat in distress full of refugees and migrants off the northern coast of Libya.
young boy receiving vaccine.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs health care facilities in the UN protection of civilians camp (PoC) in Bentiu, South Sudan. The MSF hospital in the Bentiu PoC is the only hospital for the population of the camp. It provides 24-hour emergency room care, intensive care for malnourished children, medical treatment in paediatric and adult wards, and surgical and maternity services. More than 100,000 people live in dire living conditions in the Bentiu PoC, having fled ongoing violence. The MSF staff consisted out of international staff (round the 20) and national staff ( round 500). The national staff members are people themselves affected by the violence in South Sudan and live as IDP’s in the camp.
Médecins Sans Frontières

International Activity Report 2016

A child is assessed in an MSF run health care facility in the UN protection of civilians camp (PoC) in Bentiu, South Sudan.
© Rogier Jaarsma
Expanding the response to Nigeria's humanitarian crisis
Destroying the last havens of humanity in war
Search and rescue in the central mediterranean
Vaccination on an unprecedented scale
Ebola disease in DRC: find out how we're responding
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Table of Contents

Dr Abu Wasim, a plastic surgeon, stands next to a damaged ward on the upper floors of a hospital in east Aleppo after it was hit by an airstrike in mid-October 2016. He is one of the 7 surgeons left in East Aleppo.
Countries
Every morning the camp residents rush to fill their water buckets. Access to water is a major problem for the displaced.
Expanding the response to Nigeria's humanitarian crisis
The MSF-supported hospital in Ma’arat Al Numan before it was attacked and destroyed on Monday 15th Feb. At least 25 people were killed, including nine staff members. The 30-bed hospital had 54 staff, two operating theatres, an outpatient department and an emergency room. The outpatient department treated around 1500 people a month, the ER carried out an average of 1,100 consultations a month, and around 140 operations a month, mainly orthopaedic and general surgery, were carried out in the operating theatres. MSF has been supporting this hospital since September 2015 and covered all the needs of the facility including provision of medical supplies and running costs.
Destroying the last havens of humanity in war
MSF and SOS Mediterannee Search and Rescue personnel operate in appalling conditions in the Mediterranean sea, 22 December 2016, as they help a boat in distress full of refugees and migrants off the northern coast of Libya.
Search and rescue in the central mediterranean
A Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) team vaccinate children at a camp in Evzoni close to Idomeni camp in Northern Greece. With the aim of protecting them against the most common preventable diseases linked with the substandard living conditions in which they are forced to live.
Vaccination on an unprecedented scale
People queue to be vaccinated at a school in the Zone de Santé Kikimi in Kinshasa. After an outbreak of yellow fever, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) are running a massive vaccination campaign in Kinshasa.
A year in review
MSF motorbike drivers wait to board a local pirogue that will allow them to cross Uele River, near the border with Central African Republic, on their travels from Monga to Gbadolite, a trip that takes two days to complete. In Gbadolite, MSF staff can catch a flight to return to Kinshasa. Nord-Ubangi province, Democratic Republic of Congo.
2016 in figures
MSF is currently running a project in Tehran, Capital of Iran. This project is located in south of Tehran (one of the most vulnerable areas named as Harandi area), dedicated to vulnerable women and children under 15. MSF provides medical and psychological care, as well as social support to most at risk population for infectious diseases as sexually transmitted infections (STI), Hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV-AIDS positive cases and tuberculosis. Therefore, specific attention is given to drug users, sex workers, ex-drug users, direct family members of drug addicted people, (Afghan) labor children and gipsy community. MSF is providing health training through group consultation for drug users (with support of mental health team -including psychologist, socila worker and peer workers). All of these picture have been taken inside the MSF Primary Health care Centre by a lady named "Mahsa Ahrabi-Fard" in December 2015.
Voices from the field

Regions

The old man on the left has had a festering hole in the head for 3 years. He has had his wound cleaned and his bandage dressed every three days for a year at the Old Fangak hospital. A discussion begins between Florence (right) the medical director, the surgeon Gilles (out of frame) and Julie Malcolm Wyzyloski, the nurse of the operating room to know if a surgical intervention is desirable. The conclusion will be that there is nothing to do but cure the symptom for fear of triggering a fatal process. So far, the patient does not suffer. Le vieil homme à gauche a un trou dans la tête suppurant depuis 3 ans. Il vient faire nettoyer sa plaie et refaire son pansement tous les trois jours, depuis une année, dans la clinique de Old Fangak. Une discussion s’engage entre Florence (droite) la responsable médicale, le chirurgien Gilles (hors cadre) et Julie Malcolm Wyzyloski, l’infirmière du bloc opératoire pour savoir si une intervention chirurgicale est souhaitable. La conclusion sera qu’il n’y a rien à faire d’autre que de soigner le symptôme de crainte de déclencher un processus fatal. Jusqu’à présent, le patient ne souffre pas.
Africa
Young girls from low income families in Tondo, Manila, are seen in a Likhaan clinic before ther free HPV vaccinations.
Asia & Pacific
Guests disembark from Vos Prudence in Palermo, Italy. MSF vessel Vos Prudence rescued a total of 726 people from the Mediterranean Sea over 2 days on June 8th and 9th, including 52 children.
Europe & Central Asia
Alan García, psicólogo de MSF, da atención psicológica a una estudiante de la escuela secundaria Cobao 23 de Ixhuatan durante un taller de movilización comunitaria donde se informa de que hacer en caso de seísmo Alan García, a MSF psychologist, gives psychological care to a student at the Cobao 23 secondary school in Ixhuatan during a community mobilisation workshop, where information is given about what to do in the event of an earthquake
The Americas
The newly renovated Intensive Care unit in Sulaymaniyah Emergency Hospital was opened the 19 November after a complete reconstruction done by MSF. Sulaymaniyah Emergency Hospit is the only trauma facility in Sulaymaniyah Governorate treating all people with acute medical and surgical illness. Over the last two years, there has been a significant rise in the hospital’s catchment population (currently over 2.5 million people) due to the influx of internally displaced persons from neighbouring conflict zones. MSF has been working in Sulaymaniyah Emergency Hospital since January 2016, with the aim to reduce patient mortality rate by improving quality of care in both the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the Emergency Department (ER). This is done through improved quality of patient care and structural renovation of the ER & ICU medical facilities.
Middle East & North Africa

A year in review

Almost one-third of our projects in 2016 were dedicated to providing assistance to populations caught in wars, such as in Yemen, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria and Syria. We also provided assistance to people on the move, fleeing repression, poverty or violence, exploitation or danger as countries closed options for safe and legal routes. Our teams responded to other emergencies caused by epidemics and natural disasters and provided care and improved treatment for patients with diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV.

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MSF programmes around the world

MSF has 468 projects in 71 countries. Click on the map to find out more.

 

The place names and boundaries used in this report do not reflect any position by MSF on their legal status.

Our Programmes

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    ...

      The place names and boundaries used in this report do not reflect any position by MSF on their legal status.
      One of the cases we received in the emergency room (ER) was of great and powerful inspiration to me personally and to all staff; a young woman arrived in the ER where I was on duty, she had lost both legs because of an injury caused by a rocket. She was carrying an 8-month old baby in her womb. What inspired me the most was her extraordinary strength to cope with her injury and to accept it, and what is beautiful about her story is that we got the chance to see her baby since she gave birth in the Ramtha project. - Dr. Mohammad Momani - ER doctor at Ramtha surgical project
      Dr. Mohammad Momani - ER doctor at Ramtha surgical project
      © MSF

      Voices from the field

      All those cases were critical war injuries caused by missiles, explosive barrels, mines or bullets. Doctor Mohammad El-Momani

      Voices from the field

      2016 in figures

      Browse through key facts and figures from our activities in 2016.

      2016 in figures

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      August 17, 2016. The yellow fever vaccination campaign starts in a school in the Zone de Santé Kikimi in Kinshasa. After an outbreak of yellow fever MSF has decided to vaccinate around 710.000 people in 10 days time in 3 zones in Kinshasa.

      1,167,600

      people vaccinated against yellow fever in response to an outbreak
      A mother places a cool damp washcloth on her child's body to bring the fever down while she rests on the bed in isolation ward. Children who show signs of measles with complications are treated in an isolation ward. Severe cases are referred to the hospital in Biu, a two hours drive away. Malnourished are vulnerable to diseases, especially when not being vaccinated. Measles as well as other child hood diseases are a risk for their health status. General Hospital camp Damboa, Borno State.

      2,536,400

      cases of malaria treated
      Dr Ahmed Jalal (L) consults with a patient in the outpatient department of Boost hospital in Lashkar Gah, Helmand, Afghanistan. Boost hospital is run by MSF in partnership with the Ministry of Public Health. It is one of the biggest MSF runs worldwide: 300 beds, 700 national staff, 25 international staff. Photo: Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR Lashkar Gah, Helmand, Afghanistan

      9,792,200

      outpatient consultations