The spread of COVID-19 around the world presented MSF with extraordinary challenges in 2020. It also exposed the weaknesses of many health systems and exacerbated the suffering of people in countries where we were already working before the pandemic. As the epicentre of the global public health crisis shifted, we lent our expertise in emergency response and infectious disease control to health authorities and medical staff in certain countries for the first time in our history. 

Although we had to suspend our services in some locations, the relentless commitment and efforts of our teams allowed us – for the most part – to ensure that the communities we serve could still have access to surgery, mother and child care, vaccinations and treatment for other infectious and non-communicable diseases.  

The year 2020 was extremely challenging for people all over the world, as they experienced extraordinary levels of disease, loss, fear and isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. In many countries where Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) works – and some in which we normally don’t – the pandemic exacerbated existing healthcare issues caused by conflict, displacement and poverty.

In one of the most demanding years in our almost half-century of providing assistance, our teams worked in nearly 90 countries to respond to COVID-19 and other emergencies, violence and disease outbreaks, that were made more complex by the pandemic.