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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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8006 Results
 
A sexual assault survivor working on her body map during MSF's Body Mapping workshop, Rustenburg, June 2018. MSF facilitated a 2-day Body Mapping workshop attended by adolescent survivors of sexual violence from across the Rustenburg area. In Rustenburg, South Africa, a 2016 MSF survey revealed that 1 in 4 women between the age of 18-49 has been raped in her lifetime. As part of MSF's comprehensive sexual violence project in Rustenburg, Body Mapping is used to help survivors of sexual violence identify the internal and external scars and hardships that they are living with and working through. Body Maps comprise a life-size outline of the body, which the survivor "maps" with their experiences and emotions.
South Africa

The mental healthcare lottery faced by victims of sexual violence

Yolanda Hanning, mental health manager for MSF’s Rustenburg project, presents the challenges victims of sexual violence in South Africa face in accessing mental healthcare and how MSF is working to change that. Voices from the Field - 17 Dec 2018
 
Aïcha Aïcha is nine-years-old. She fled to Niger by crossing through the jungle. She experienced hunger when she was fleeing. In Niger, Aïcha stopped playing and was always sitting alone. She found it hard to eat and was losing weight. She had nightmares which woke her up.
Niger

Diffa’s young minds damaged by the conflict

Children account for about 70 per cent of the 250,000 people who have sought refuge in Diffa, Niger, fleeing conflict in the Lake Chad region. MSF is running a mental health and psychosocial support programme for children and adolescents in Diffa, to help them to overcome the trauma they have experienced. Project Update - 14 Dec 2018
 
Anas Twelve-year-old Anas and his parents left Nigeria four years ago. Anas’ parents were small traders and the family lived well, but they had to give everything up due to the conflict. Anas witnessed several murders when his village was attacked.
Niger

Lives haunted by violence

Since late 2014, the region of Diffa in southern Niger has been caught in armed conflict, forcing 250,000 people from their homes, over two-thirds of them children. Halisa, Mohammed, Asan, Aïcha, Mariam and Issa, participants in the mental health programme that MSF runs in Diffa, share their stories. Voices from the Field - 14 Dec 2018
 
Issa Ten-year-old Issa was kidnapped by an armed group when his village was attacked. He spent several months in captivity and saw another boy killed.
Mental health

“It takes a lot to bring these children back to something approaching a normal life”

Interview with Cristina Carreño, MSF mental health advisor, on the role of mental healthcare for children in MSF’s programmes for victims of violence, conflict or natural disasters, and notably for displaced populations. Interview - 13 Dec 2018
 
At the Casa del Migrante in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, an MSF team provides medical care and mental health care to hundreds of migrants and refugees who arrive daily in this city located in southern Mexico, known for being a place of passage where travelers usually take a break before continuing their journey aboard “La Bestia”, the freight train that connects the southern and northern borders of the Mexican republic.
Central American migration

US asylum restrictions are deepening Mexican border crisis

Current and proposed policies to severely restrict the ability to seek asylum in the United States have created an administrative limbo that leaves Central American asylum seekers in Mexico exposed to further violence. Press Release - 13 Dec 2018
 
Thousands of Iraqis who fled IS’s iron grip and the US-led coalition’s bombing campaigns, they have all but lost hope in their country’s future. Their story is a testament to the fact that, while the Islamic State group has been crushed militarily, peace and prosperity remain a distant dream for many Iraqis.
Iraq

Iraq’s displaced see no hope on the horizon

Iraqis who fled the Islamic State group’s iron grip and the US-led coalition’s bombing campaigns have all but lost hope in the future. Their story is testament to the fact that, while the Islamic State group appears to have been defeated militarily, peace and prosperity remain a distant dream for many Iraqis. Voices from the Field - 12 Dec 2018
 
In October 2018, MSF teams in collaboration with MoH andHellenic Center for Disease Control & Prevention (KEELPNO) vaccinated 200 children living in VIAL camp on Chios island against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) as well as Polio for those who weren't already vaccinated. In March 2018, MSF mobile units began holding daily visits to the VIAL camp offering primary health care, sexual and reproductive healthcare (ante-/postnatal care; gynecology; family planning), and mental healthcare (individual clinical psychological care sessions). In July 2018, MSF set up a permanent clinic outside VIAL Camp. A social worker complements the support offered to patients at both the local hospital and the camp, linking patients as well to legal aid actors locally and in Athens. Patients in need of psychiatric treatment are referred to a local NGO since the waiting time at the local hospital’s can be as long as three months. In addition, an outreach team is regularly deployed to the camp providing health advice, promoting MSF's activities, and referring patients to our clinic.
Refugees, IDPs and people on the move

"Migration is not a crime. Saving lives is not a crime"

Speech given by MSF International President Dr Joanne Liu at the Global Compact of Migration conference in Marrakesh, Morocco, on refugees and migration. Speech - 11 Dec 2018
 
A woman in detention centre. Her testimony: “We were abandoned at sea. People lost hope. Why did we let people die at sea? They have all the means to rescue us. We are all humans. If we try to go to Europe, it’s to have a better life. People will keep continuing taking journey by sea. There are people who are escaping war, others are escaping poverty; people should be rescued and later on each individual case is looked at. We are not in Libya to stay here, we want to go to Europe. We are not criminals”.
Libya

Open letter to the UN on the fate of refugees trapped in dangerous Libya

Open letter from MSF to Ghassan Salamé, Special Representative and Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya, on the situation of the refugees and migrants forcibly disembarked from the Nivin merchant ship and still at risk in Libya Open Letter - 10 Dec 2018
 
Majdal Anjar, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. November 7, 2013. Syrian refugees living on the grounds of a former prison now occupied by several Syrian refugee families on the outskirts of the village of Majdal Anjar, in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. (Photo by Moises Saman/MAGNUM)
Lebanon

MSF in Lebanon: Then and Now

Then and Now is the unfolding story of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Lebanon, first presented as a multimedia exhibition in Beirut on 10-13 December 2018 to commemorate the 42-year relationship between MSF and Lebanon Photo Story - 7 Dec 2018
 
Central Mediterranean – 23 September, 2018 – Over the past 72 hours, Aquarius assisted two boats in distress and now has more than 60 survivors on board, several of whom are psychologically distressed and fatigued from their journeys at sea and experiences in Libya. SOS Mediterrannee and MSF are reeling from the announcement by the Panama Maritime Authority it has been forced to revoke the registration of the Aquarius under blatant economic and political pressure from the Italian government. “Five years after the Lampedusa tragedy, when European leaders said ‘never again’ and Italy launched its first large scale search and rescue operation, people are still risking their lives to escape from Libya . News from the Panama Maritime Authority arrived to the Aquarius while its teams were engaged in an active search and rescue operation in the Central Mediterranean.
Mediterranean migration

Aquarius forced to end operations as Europe condemns people to drown

As people continuing to flee by sea along the world’s deadliest migration route, not only has Europe failed to provide search and rescue capacity - it has actively sabotaged others’ attempts to save lives. Press Release - 6 Dec 2018
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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