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.

Medical activities

Child health

Around the world, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are working to protect the health of children.

Medical activities

Cholera

Although easy to prevent and treat, cholera affects up to 4 million people worldwide per year.

Medical activities

Coronavirus

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, most of which are harmless for humans. However, two types can cause severe lung infections. MSF is currently responding to a worldwide coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19

Medical activities

Ebola and haemorrhagic fevers

Ebola and haemorrhagic fevers are rare but deadly. Outbreaks can kill up to 90 per cent of those infected, spreading fear and panic among affected communities.

Medical activities

Hepatitis C

Worldwide, an estimated 58 million people are infected with the hepatitis C virus, with about 1.5 million new infections occurring per year. While hepatitis C can be cured, few people have access to treatment.

Medical activities

Hepatitis E

Hepatitis E is transmitted by ingesting water contaminated by an infected person’s faeces. Outbreaks are often documented in places with poor sanitation, like camps for refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs). Hepatitis E commonly causes only a mild short-term illness.

Medical activities

HIV/AIDS

Around 630,000 people died from HIV-related causes, while 1.3 million people became newly infected with the HIV virus in 2022.

Medical activities

Kala azar

Hundreds of millions of people are at risk of infection with kala azar - one of the world's most dangerous parasitic diseases. Only malaria is more deadly.

Medical activities

Malaria

Each year, malaria kills over 600,000 people. Three-quarters of all deaths are children under five years of age.

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

Measles

In 2025, our teams vaccinated 2.1 million people against measles in response to outbreaks. But the highly contagious viral disease remains one of the leading killers of young children.