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About Us

How we work

See what triggers an intervention and how supply and logistics allow our teams to respond quickly.

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How we're run

Discover our governance and what it means to be an association. Find a quick visual guide to our offices around the world.

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Reports and financials

Read through our annual financial and activity reports, and find out about where our funds come from and how they are spent.

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Accountability

Read the policies, reports, and plans on how we address issues like racism and reduce our carbon footprint, ensuring our actions align with the highest ethical standards.

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What we do

Médecins Sans Frontières brings medical humanitarian assistance to victims of conflict, natural disasters, epidemics or healthcare exclusion.

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Featured Cholera Gaza Israel war Mediterranean migration

Where we work

In more than 70 countries, Médecins Sans Frontières provides medical humanitarian assistance to save lives and ease the suffering of people in crisis situations.

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Featured Haiti Palestine Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

MSF Websites

A Global Network
Our offices around the world
Our offices around the world
Other Sites
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MSF Access

MSF Access pushes for access to, and the development of, life-saving and life-prolonging medicines, diagnostic tests and vaccines for people in our programmes and beyond.

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CRASH

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.

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UREPH

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.

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ARHP

Based in Barcelona, ARHP documents and reflects on the operational challenges and dilemmas faced by the MSF field teams.

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MSF Analysis

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.

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MSF Supply

This logistical and supply centre in Brussels provides storage of and delivers medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions.

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MSF Logistique

This supply and logistics centre in Bordeaux, France, provides warehousing and delivery of medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions.

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Amsterdam Procurement Unit

This logistical centre in Amsterdam purchases, tests, and stores equipment including vehicles, communications material, power supplies, water-processing facilities and nutritional supplements.

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Brazilian Medical Unit

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.

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MSF Medical Guidelines

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.

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Epicentre

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.

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Evaluation Units

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.

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LGBTQI+ Inclusion in Health Settings

MSF works with LGBTQI+ populations in many settings over the last 25-30 years. LGBTQI+ people face healthcare disparities with limited access to care and higher disease rates than the general population.

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LUXOR

The Luxembourg Operational Research (LuxOR) unit coordinates field research projects and operational research training, and provides support for documentation activities and routine data collection.

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MSF Academy for Healthcare

To upskill and provide training to locally-hired MSF staff in several countries, MSF has created the MSF Academy for Healthcare.

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Humanitarian Law

This Guide explains the terms, concepts, and rules of humanitarian law in accessible and reader-friendly alphabetical entries.

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MSF Paediatric Days

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.

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MSF Foundation

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.

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DNDi

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.

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MSF Science Portal

Our digital portal dedicated to sharing the latest medical evidence from our humanitarian activities around the globe.

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Noma

Noma is a preventable and treatable neglected disease, but 90 per cent of people will die within the first two weeks of infection if they do not receive treatment.

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TIC

The TIC is aiming to change how MSF works to better meet the evolving needs of our patients.

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Telemedicine

MSF's telemedicine hub aims to overcome geographic barriers for equitable, accessible, and quality patient care.

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Sweden Innovation Unit

Launched in 2012, the MSF Sweden Innovation Unit deploys a human-centered approach for promoting a culture of innovation within MSF.

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Geo MSF

The GeoMSF platform is a dynamic one-stop-shop website for all of MSF's GIS related services and products. Access maps and applications through the catalogue, request geographical support, or produce a map on GeoMSF.

GeoMSF
Ebola disease in DRC: find out how we're responding
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8000 Results
 
Dr Tathy, an MSF doctor, sees patients considered as non-Ebola suspects in consultation, as part of the mobile intervention clinic and training of local medical staff in the Ebola context, in the village of Bobua. This decentralization-based device aims to detect and isolate, if necessary, any person presenting symptoms close to Ebola (fevers, diarrhea, headaches, bleeding, etc.). But at the same time to treat other pathologies which are rife in the area, such as malaria or severe acute malnutrition. This is in order to increase the acceptance of MSF by the population in the area, and to avoid the stigmatization that affects Ebola patients, by getting as close as possible to the patients, and taking care of them where they live. Bobua. *** Dr Tathy, médecin MSF, reçoit en consultation des patients considérés comme non suspects Ebola, dans le cadre des activités de clinique d'intervention mobile et de formation du personnel médical local en contexte Ebola, dans le village de Bobua. Ce dispositif axé sur la décentralisation, a pour but de déceler, et isoler le cas échéant, toute personne présentant des symptômes proches d'Ebola (fièvres, diarhhées, céphalées, saignements...). Mais de soigner en même temps d'autres pathologies qui sévissent dans la zone, telles que le paludisme ou la malnutrition aïgue sévère. Ceci afin d'augmenter l'acceptance de MSF par la population dans la zone, et d'éviter la stigmatisation qui affecte les patients Ebola, en se rapprochant au plus près des patients, et en les prenant en charge sur leur lieu de vie. Bobua.
DRC Ebola outbreaks

Improved medical response sees the end of DRC’s eleventh Ebola outbreak

Almost six months since the eleventh outbreak of Ebola was declared in DRC, new tools and an improved medical response have seen the epidemic come to an end. Project Update - 19 Nov 2020
 
26-year-old biotechnologist Rebecca Achok, registers and codes samples of COVID-19 suspected cases in the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) in Juba. Rebecca is one of the eight biotechnologists of the NPHL’s reception area to where the samples are brought for testing from all over the country. After the samples are registered and coded, they are send to an extraction room where another technician will determine whether the sample is positive for COVID-19 virus.
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

Governments must support landmark proposal to waive COVID-19 patents

MSF is urging all countries to join the 99 others who have expressed support for a landmark request to waive intellectual property on coronavirus COVID-19 drugs and vaccines, allowing for affordable access. Press Release - 19 Nov 2020
 
A family in their tent in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Sittwe, February 2, 2013. photo by Kaung Htet
MSF Speaking Out

MSF and the Rohingya 1992 - 2014

The case study "MSF and the Rohingya 1992 - 2014" brings to light two decades of MSF advocacy activities as part of its humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya people in Bangladesh and Myanmar and explores the questions and dilemmas the organisation was confronted with surrounding speaking out. Speaking Out Case Studies - 19 Nov 2020
 
Phenduka Mtshali, a patient with Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (DR-TB), is seen at her home in Mbongolwane, South Africa speaking with MSF fieldworker, Jabulile. Phenduka lives in Mbongolwane a rural area of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province at the epicentre of South Africa’s HIV & TB epidemic and where MSF is currently piloting a model of care aimed at upgrading the TB treatment cascade. Everybody Breathes is a package documenting how the lessons learnt from the initial phases of the ‘Bending The Curves’ initiative in South Africa are now being used by MSF in Eshowe to tackle TB. The package will document interventions the project is putting in place in collaboration with its partners to prevent the spread of TB, provide a link for patients to get tested, locate missing cases and ensuring patients remain on treatment with structures that fit into their lives. Under embargo until 24/03/2020.
Tuberculosis

Step up for TB report 2020

MSF and Stop TB Partnership present the 4th edition of the Step up for TB report, which surveys TB testing and treatment progress among 37 high TB-burden countries. Report - 16 Nov 2020
 
Svitlana was diagnosed with DR-TB two and a half months ago. Since starting treatment, she has already felt an improvement in her health.
Tuberculosis

MSF calls on governments and donors to speed up TB testing and treatment

A new MSF report shows that new drugs and testing for tuberculosis - the world's deadliest infectious disease - aren’t getting to people quickly enough. Press Release - 16 Nov 2020
 
On the morning of September 17th, as Open Arms awaited instructions from authorities regarding the disembarkation of the 275 survivors rescued in the Mediterranean sea, more than 70 people jumped into the water in desperation. The Sea-Watch 4 was close by, at anchor outside the port of Palermo, and immediately responded by launching three RHIBs to provide assistance. MSF and Sea-Watch crews remained on scene until the situation stabilised.
Mediterranean migration

Carnage in the Mediterranean is the direct result of European state policies

Four separate shipwrecks in the central Mediterranean in less than 72 hours has cost the lives of more than 100 people - the result of EU migration policies. Press Release - 13 Nov 2020
 
As a part of COVID-19 response in Czech Republic, MSF mobile team (consisted of a nurse and a logistician) visited care home in Božice, Southern Moravian region, Czech Republic. During the day, MSF staff with the care home's staff assessed and discussed improving IPC measures to protect clients of the home from COVID-19.
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

MSF supports COVID-19 response in nursing homes in Czech Republic

MSF has started activities for the first time in the Czech Republic, where mobile teams are visiting nursing homes as part of the response to coronavirus COVID-19. Project Update - 13 Nov 2020
 
With the Syria crisis entering its ninth year in 2019, Jordan is hosting around 1.3 million Syrians of which 670,000 are registered as refugees. With the arrival of winter, the suffering is renewed for Syrian refugees, let alone for those suffering from life-long diseases. Adding to this, winter is a season of additional torment that they still cannot avoid. NCDs is one of the main health problems affecting Syrian and Jordanian population; it is estimated NCDs to account for 78% of all death in Jordan. Heart disease has become a leading threat to the health of the Jordanian population, with 41.5% of deaths last year 37% of them were related to heart disease. Death due to NCDs is mainly due to complications of uncontrolled other Chronic Diseases like Diabetes and Hypertension. The lack of follow-up, diagnostics and clinical investigations, health awareness and high cost of secondary and tertiary health care like cardiac interventions are also significant reasons.( e.g.: Catheterization may reach 5000 JDs/7000 USD, excluding Hospital fees). Like most of NCDs, the difficult economic conditions make life harder for those affected. The NCDs care and management is expensive in general and requires long term medications and regular follow ups, not a lot of patients have the financial ability to afford the treatment. It affects the access of medicines for patients. As a result, MSF intervened and operated two clinics in northern Jordan in Irbid governorate to respond to the NCDs needs between Syrian refugees and vulnerable Jordanians. MSF is helping both in Irbid governorate by providing these life-saving medications and follow up consultations free of charge. At both clinics, MSF currently has cohort of 5500 patients out of which 3,639 are Syrian refugees and 1,619 are vulnerable Jordanian in the NCD program, out of which Type I Diabetes: 163 and Type II Diabetes: 3251, Hypertension: 3,773, Asthma 453, and Cardiovascular 1406. Many patients have more than one of these diseases. MSF teams provide medical and mental healthcare,  including psychosocial support, physiotherapy and health promotion, and home visits to patients unable to visit the clinics due to mobility constrains. MSF contribution doesn’t stop at providing health care to Syrian refugees. MSF believes that increasing patient’s familiarity about NCDs is important, given the lifelong nature of these diseases. Some of the NCDs services available are provided with some cost taken from the patients. For many Syrian patients that cost is not affordable and would require a global support from donors and agencies to have affordable access to NCD treatment and health care.
Non-communicable diseases

Eight reasons why diabetes is a humanitarian emergency

Diabetes is a common, chronic disease - which can be managed with drugs such as insulin and a good diet. But it can be life-threatening for people living in conflict zones or refugee camps. Project Update - 13 Nov 2020
 
Most of the people admitted to Covid+ centres are homeless people sent from emergency shelters. When MSF mobile teams who intervene in these shelters diagnose someone as possibly having contracted the virus they try to test them——if they have the necessary kits. From the medical perspective, we know the symptoms of the virus, so we can identify anyone suspected of having the disease. The Regional Health Authority then calls on the Red Cross, which handles transportation, to take them to Covid+ centres set up across Paris and the suburbs. In Chatenay-Malabry Covid+ centre (Paris suburbs), there are places for 50 people with confirmed or suspected Covid-19. We provide social support and paramedical/medical care in partnership with NGO Alteralia. This includes checking vital signs: blood pressure, temperature and oxygen saturation to see whether people are breathing properly. We also give advice on hygiene, wearing a mask and hand washing to prevent the infection spreading to other people. We also give medical examinations and, when necessary, take care of patients requiring long-term treatment for other conditions. We monitor them regularly, so if all of a sudden someone who’s really struggling to breathe—remember, this isn’t a hospital so we don't necessarily have the equipment to keep them on oxygen for any length of time—requires further tests, this is the kind of person we call the emergency services for so that they can take them to the hospital. MSF teams are on hand throughout the care chain: from the mobile teams, mobile clinic and care provided in the emergency centres through to the medical team who treat patients admitted to the Covid-19 treatment centres.
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

MSF supports nursing home staff as urgent appeal for medical personnel in France launched

MSF is providing support to nursing home staff, and appealing for more medical staff to come forward, as the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic mounts in France. Project Update - 11 Nov 2020
 
Abdullah Ali, 6 years old, fell from the top of the tree, suffered bruises in the head, and received treatment at Naser hospital supported by MSF in Ibb city.
Yemen

Humanitarian response in Yemen: time to go back to the drawing board

MSF Director of Operations in Geneva, Christine Jamet, explains why a reset is needed on the humanitarian response in Yemen. Op-Ed - 11 Nov 2020
Four mothers posing in a corridor of the Hospital in Bili. All four of them are staying in the hospital with their child, that's suffering from a severe case of malaria. Since the beginning of the project in 2016, the pediatric ward already treated more than 4.000 cases of complicated/severe form of malaria.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Independent medical humanitarian assistance

We provide medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. Our teams are made up of tens of thousands of health professionals, logistic and administrative staff - most of them hired locally. Our actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of independence and impartiality. We are a non-profit, self-governed, member-based organisation.

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