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.
Continued violence and armed conflict in Nigeria’s Borno state has uprooted more than two million people.
MSF has been responding to disease outbreaks and emergency health needs in Nigeria for many years, focusing on maternal and paediatric healthcare throughout the country and scaling up our activities in the northeast as vast numbers of people caught up in the conflict depend on aid to survive.
Why are we here?
01Conflict in the northeast
It has been 10 years since an insurgency began in northeast Nigeria, with armed opposition groups fighting the Nigerian army. Thousands have been killed in fighting and many more by malnutrition, measles and malaria. People are unable to farm or sell their goods, and mass displacement has resulted in catastrophic living conditions. Watch our video explainer on the crisis in the northeast.
02Mother and child heath
The World Health Organization estimates that 58,000 women die from complications during pregnancy and childbirth every year in Nigeria, and one in eight children dies before the age of five (Nigeria: Demographic and Health Survey 2013). We run the maternity and neonatal departments of Jahun general hospital, Jigawa state, and support basic obstetrics in health centres to reduce complications during pregnancy.
03Disease outbreaks
We run mass vaccination campaigns across the country against diseases such as measles, meningitis and pneumococcal pneumonia. Our teams also provide seasonal malaria chemoprevention. In 2017, MSF responded to Nigeria’s largest meningitis C outbreak in 10 years. Over 4,000 people were also treated for cholera following an outbreak in Maiduguri, Monguno and Mafa.
04Noma
We support the Noma Children’s Hospital in Sokoto with specialised surgical care for patients with noma and other conditions that require reconstructive surgery. Most patients with noma - a disfiguring and often deadly infection - are children under six, whose immune systems have been weakened by malnutrition. As well as surgery, we support pre- and post-operative medical and mental care, community outreach activities, and active case finding in the region.
Website
Noma, a neglected disease
msf.org
Website
Noma, a neglected disease
msf.org
05Sexual violence
We run a programme for victims of sexual and gender-based violence in Port Harcourt, Rivers state. It includes preventive treatment for sexually transmitted infections, emergency contraception, counselling and psychosocial support.
06Lead poisoning
We have been responding to lead poisoning in children in Zamfara state since the epidemic was discovered in 2010. Following a similar outbreak in Niger state in 2015, we have set up safer mining projects in both areas, working with miners to reduce their exposure to toxic lead and off-site contamination.
In 2018
334,300
334,3
outpatient consultations
60,200
60,2
people admitted to hospital
41,300
41,3
people treated for malaria
Nigeria
Borno state: In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, other diseases will not relent
Project Update3 Apr 2020
Nigeria
Northeast Nigeria: “The conflict is intensifying and the needs are massive”
Interview4 Feb 2020
Nigeria
Medical assistance urgently needed outside northeast ‘garrison’ towns
Interview19 Dec 2019
Nigeria
MSF condemns the killing of four aid workers in northeast Nigeria
Statement13 Dec 2019
Nigeria
Malaria season ends, but healthcare challenges remain in Borno state
Project Update13 Dec 2019
HIV/AIDS
AIDS death toll stagnating due to lack of testing at community level
Press Release1 Dec 2019
HIV/AIDS
MSF report "No time to lose" examines the fight against AIDS in 15 countries
Report27 Nov 2019
Nigeria
Is counter-terrorism killing humanitarian action in Nigeria?
Op-Ed22 Nov 2019
Nigeria
Northeast Nigeria: Now is not the time to question lifesaving assistance
Statement25 Oct 2019
1996
1996
Year MSF first worked in the country
Reports & Analysis
Nigeria
Case Study on humanitarian response in North-east Nigeria
Emergency Gap.1 Apr 2017
Nigeria
Lead poisoning crisis in Zamfara state northern Nigeria paper
Report11 May 2012
Related topics
In Focus
Lake Chad Crisis
Armed conflict has forced over 2.3 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, with many dependent on humanitarian assistance.
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.
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.
