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, resulting in up to 140,000 deaths.

 

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

Haemorrhagic fevers

Ebola and Marburg haemorrhagic fevers are rare but deadly. Outbreaks can kill 25 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 2023, our teams vaccinated 3.3 million people against measles in response to outbreaks. But the highly contagious viral disease remains one of the leading killers of young children.

 

Medical activities

Meningitis

Meningococcal meningitis is a highly contagious bacterial form of meningitis – a serious inflammation of the meninges – the thin lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.

 

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

Mpox

Learn more about MSF's activities in responding to mpox.

 

Medical activities

Neglected diseases

MSF teams treat a number of neglected diseases, including noma, Chagas, cutaneous leishmaniasis, in projects across the world.

 

Medical activities

Non-communicable diseases

Non-communicable diseases are not transmitted from one person to another. One could cite the cardiovascular diseases (cardiovascular or cerebrovascular accidents), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma) and diabetes.

 

Medical activities

Safe abortion care

MSF is committed to providing safe abortion care to reduce avoidable suffering and deaths. Every minute, a woman or girl has an unsafe abortion. .

 

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

Sleeping sickness

Sleeping sickness, or human African trypanosomiasis, is a neglected tropical disease. It is a potentially fatal parasitic infection which attacks the body’s central nervous system, causing severe neurological conditions.

 

Medical activities

Snakebite

Snakebite is a hidden health crisis. Every year, an estimated 2.7 million people are bitten by venomous snakes, resulting in death for more than 100,000 people and life-long disfigurement and disability for 400,000 more.​

 

Medical activities

Surgery & trauma care

Médecins Sans Frontières has been providing surgical care for people in precarious contexts for decades.

 

Medical activities

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world’s biggest global health crises. Killing 1.3 million people in 2022 TB is the world’s second deadliest infectious disease after COVID-19 (WHO).

 

Medical activities

Vaccination

MSF teams vaccinate millions of people every year, either as part of routine vaccination, or in response to an outbreak of disease.