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.
Armed conflict has forced over 2.5 million people to flee their homes across the Lake Chad Basin. Violence and multiple forced displacement have destroyed what ability people had to support themselves.
The conflict between military forces and non-state armed groups in the Lake Chad region broke out in northeast Nigeria in 2009. It has since spread into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger, creating one of the largest humanitarian crises in Africa.
Many of the displaced have found refuge in host communities, putting a huge strain on a region already suffering from poverty, food insecurity, recurrent disease outbreaks and weak health systems.
A look at the epicentre of the Lake Chad crisis in northeast Nigeria (2019)
The Lake Chad crisis stems from an armed conflict in Nigeria that has been ongoing for more than 10 years.
Thousands of people have been killed. Others have been deprived of access to medical care and have died of easily treatable disease such as malnutrition and malaria. According to OCHA, across the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, about 35,000 people have been killed since 2009, 1.8 million people are internally displaced, and 7.1 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Around 230,000 people have fled to the neighbouring countries of Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Project coordinator, Karsten Noko, highlights the gaps and needs of the population as a consequence of this decade long strife.
Niger
In Diffa, listening spaces have been set up for and by women from the community
msf.lu4 May 2018
Nigeria
MSF suspends medical activities in Rann
Press Release2 Mar 2018
Nigeria
What’s happening in the northeast?
Project Update23 Nov 2017
Nigeria
MSF scales up activities as cholera spreads in Borno state
Project Update19 Sep 2017
Nigeria
Crisis Update - July 2017
Crisis Update10 Aug 2017
Niger
Diffa - the burden of violence
Project Update10 May 2017
Niger
Hepatitis E outbreak linked to water shortages and poor sanitation
Press Release26 Apr 2017
Nigeria
As refugees flee violence, others are forcibly returned
Press Release19 Apr 2017
Nigeria
Case Study on humanitarian response in North-east Nigeria
Emergency Gap.1 Apr 2017
Research & Analysis
Nigeria
Case Study on humanitarian response in North-east Nigeria
Emergency Gap.1 Apr 2017
Lake Chad Crisis
Lake Chad: Years of Forgotten Crisis
Medium.com31 Oct 2016
Photo Story
Around Lake Chad: People living in fear
1 Jul 2015
Photo Story
Related topics
Africa
Nigeria
Continued violence and armed conflict in Nigeria’s Borno state has uprooted more than two million people.
In 2019
287,200
outpatient consultations
64,600
people admitted to hospital
53,300
malaria cases treated
Africa
Niger
Niger is affected by violence and population displacements in its border regions that form part of the Central Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin.
In 2019
436,100
outpatient consultations
220,300
malaria cases treated
67,600
patients admitted to hospital, including 53,600 children under five
Africa
Cameroon
Since 2011, violent attacks by armed opposition groups and the counterinsurgency operations of the Nigerian army have forced hundreds of thousands of people from northeast Nigeria to seek refuge in Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
In 2019
221,600
outpatient consultations
83,200
malaria cases treated
6,050
surgical interventions
Africa
Chad
Since 2015, thousands of people in the Lake Chad region have been forced to flee their homes as a result of violent clashes between armed groups and Chadian military forces.
In 2019
352,500
vaccinations against measles in response to an outbreak
154,800
outpatient consultations
109,900
malaria cases treated
Crisis Settings
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.
Crisis Settings
War and conflict
Around one-quarter of our humanitarian and medical assistance is for populations caught in armed conflict.
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.
Up Next
Over 10 million people heavily dependent on aid for survival
