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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
 
MSF is responding to the needs of people affected by the punitive and ever-changing immigration policies of the U.S. and Mexico on the countries' border. People fleeing violence and poverty, most from countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America, but also from other parts of the world, are taking shelter in Matamoros, just across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in the U.S. Some 2,000 people—men, women and children—are living in tents by the international bridge. They receive few services and are largely reliant on volunteers from the U.S. and Mexico that bring food, clean water and clothing. At the bridge encampment, and at shelters in the area, MSF is providing mental health and social services, as well as medical care. Most people at the border are waiting for asylum court hearings across the bridge. Most wait for months; some have recently received court dates a year from now. Matamoros, like other Mexican cities along the border, is not a safe place for migrants and asylum seekers. When they arrive in these cities with nowhere to go and no protection, they become prey for organized crime. Many have been kidnapped and extorted, and have been victims of sexual violence. A lot of these people have also experienced violence along the route north through Mexico.
Central American migration

The devastating toll of 'Remain in Mexico' asylum policy one year later

The cruel and inhumane Remain in Mexico policy - which pushes asylum seekers back into Mexico from the US - has been in place for a year and continues to endanger the lives of vulnerable people. Press Release - 29 Jan 2020
 
“My son, Mohammed, is almost 3 years old and is suffering from brain disorders. Due to the disease he is having contant headaches and he doesn’t talk much… we try to make him talk but whenever he tries he mumbles. At the moment we live in a tent in the olive grove without electivity and heating. The toilets and the showers are far and there is no warm for bathing him so I only wash him once every two weeks. The doctor suggest us to keep good hygiene but it’s impossible. We try to keep our tent clean but when it rains there is everywhere mud. As a mother, I don’t even care about myself, I only care about my children. When Mohammed complains about the headaches he has due to the disease I know I can do nothing to help him, I only cry. We are here 3,5 months and all the doctors who saw Mohammed here say that he really need to be transferred to mainland in order to receive care for his disease but are still here in Moria”. *Gul, from Afghanistan, mother of 2 living in the Olive Groove in Moria. At the moment there are more than 19.000 people living in Moria camp which was initially made to host 3.000 people. For the past 4 months MSF doctors have seen at least 140 children with chronic and complex cases who have no access to medication and the specialized care they need. Some of them if they left untreated they might face life-long consequences or even death.
Greece

Greece denies healthcare to seriously ill refugee children on Lesbos

Children who are suffering from chronic and complex diseases, such as heart disease and asthma and are forced to live in unhygienic conditions in Moria camp, Greece, with no appropriate health care and medication. Press Release - 23 Jan 2020
 
“In 2020, I wish for a world where medicines are not commodities or luxuries but where everyone has fair access to treatment to stay alive and healthy. Medicines shouldn’t be a luxury. I wish for Change not Charity.”
Access to medicines

Our 2020 wishlist - five New Year's resolutions for medical care

In 2020 we want to see change in the way medicines and medical care is accessible for people and patients - not charity. Here are the five things we wish for change this year and beyond. Campaign - 22 Jan 2020
 
MSF Greece Director of Medical Operational Support Unit, Apostolos Veizis, holding a sign advocating for broader use of the pneumonia vaccine at a lower price
Access to medicines

Gavi must ensure more children get new, more affordable pneumonia vaccine

As vaccine funder Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, celebrates its 20th anniversary, MSF is using the occasion to call out the organisation to ensure more children are protected against deadly pneumonia with a new, more affordable, vaccine. Press Release - 21 Jan 2020
 
Salwa, 11, before entering the operational theatre at Dar Salam Hospital for surgery. Salwa survived an Israeli airstrike that killed her family during the military escalation between the Israeli army and the Islamic Jihad group in the Gaza strip in November 2019. She was referred to MSF hospital with open fractures of the right foot that required debridement and two main surgical procedures to be repaired. Before her last surgical procedure, the Operating theatre (OT) team welcomed her with balloons and sons to help her overcome fear and relax. “I remember when Salwa arrived, a few days after the airstrike. It was very sad for all the team. I cried when I left the hospital. We have been taking care of Salwa like she was our daughter since then. We want to make this experience more bearable for her. We all wish she’ll be fine soon” says Mohammad Wadi, MSF Operating Theatre supervisor.
Palestine

Deaths and broken lives, the aftermath of airstrikes in Gaza

Salwa is ten-year-old girl who is the sole survivor in her family of a recent Israeli airstrike in Gaza, Palestine. Severely injured, MSF-supported hospitals are one of the few options open to people like her to start her long recovery.
Project Update - 17 Jan 2020
 
A mother looks after her child, in the emergency department of Tumeremo hospital. The hospital is one of the two big reference hospitals of Bolivar state, yet part of it hasn’t been functional for the past years and the medical staff there struggles to provide even regular services. The economic crisis in Venezuela has severely impacted the country’s health system and many hospitals, such as this one, are now in a very bad state. MSF will start the support to this hospital in 2020, first with water & sanitation activities, electricity and maintenance as well as triage and emergencies.
Venezuela

Fighting malaria and a failing health system in Bolivar

Venezuela's economic crisis has led to a collapsed health system, allowing for the resurgence of diseases like malaria. MSF teams are going closer than ever to people in the country's eastern Bolivar state to treat the disease. Project Update - 17 Jan 2020
 
162 survivors on board Ocean Viking on their its way to the port of safety in Taranto, Italy.
Mediterranean migration

Refugees trapped in Libya: Nowhere to go but the sea

Escalating conflict in Libya is leading thousands to flee. Left in limbo, caught in the crossfire of a country at war and trapped in a cycle of violence, many refugees see their only chance to escape is on unseaworthy boats across the Mediterranean. Voices from the Field - 15 Jan 2020
 
A young patient sits on the terrace of the MSF's Baghdad Medical Rehabilitation Centre (BMRC). The BMRC is the only health facility in Baghdad governorate offering comprehensive rehabilitation care, including early physiotheraphy and psychological support, to the victims of war injured by bomb blasts and gunshots, as well as those injured in traffic accidents and more recently during the protests. There is a huge lack of such services in Iraq where healthcare facilities have been severely damaged after years of war and insecurity.
Iraq

Tuk-tuks, the ambulances of the nation

In Bagdad, Iraq, tuk-tuk driver Ali Salim spent days taking people wounded in protests to hospital before ending up in a hospital bed himself. Voices from the Field - 14 Jan 2020
 
Kadhim Dhaygham (16) is a patient at MSF's BMRC. Kadhim was injured on October 27 when a tear gas cannister slammed into his leg during protests in Baghdad
Iraq

Mending broken lives: treating wounded protesters in Baghdad

MSF staff have been providing lifesaving post-operative treatment - including physiotherapy and mental health support - to people wounded during the protests in Baghdad, Iraq. Project Update - 10 Jan 2020
 
Two adolescents are going back to their tent in an IDP camp located in the Jebel Harem area of Northwest Syria. They’ve been collecting wood in the mountain and around the camp, to use it as heating material during winter.
Syria

Afraid of the bombs: why people discuss the weather in northwestern Syria

A new military offensive in Idlib governorate, northwestern Syria, has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee, joining more than 1.5 million displaced already living in dire conditions during a cold and wet winter. Project Update - 9 Jan 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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