Skip to main content
Back to main menu

About Us

How we work

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

Learn more
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.

Learn more
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.

Learn more
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.

Learn more

What we do

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

View all topics Activities by country
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.

View all countries
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
View Resource Centre
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.

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
ARHP

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

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
Humanitarian Law

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

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
MSF Science Portal

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

GO TO SITE
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.

GO TO SITE
TIC

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

GO TO SITE
Telemedicine

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

GO TO SITE
Sweden Innovation Unit

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

GO TO SITE
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
Learn more
7998 Results
 
Since French authorities demolished the southern half of the Jungle camp in March this year, living conditions in the northern half have become very cramped. People are fighting for space, with 1,000 new arrivals in the past month alone, local NGOs have counted, including 142 minors which makes a total of 700 minors in the Jungle now.
France

With the Calais ‘Jungle’ about to be dismantled, what will become of unaccompanied minors?

Project Update - 15 Sep 2016
 
Abs hospital, in Hajjah governorate, northwestern Yemen, was hit by an airstrike in the afternoon of August 15 at 3.45pm local time, killing at least 14 people and injuring at least 19. The blast immediately killed nine people, including an MSF staff member. Two patients died while being transferred to Al Jamhouri hospital. Five patients remain hospitalised. Abs hospital, supported by MSF since July 2015, was partially destroyed. All remaining patients and staff have been evacuated. The location of the hospital was well known, and the hospital’s GPS coordinates were repeatedly shared with all parties to the conflict, including the Saudi-led coalition.
Yemen

As armed conflict intensifies once again, seeking medical care is dangerous

Project Update - 15 Sep 2016
 
Zara Abba, 32, from the capital of Chad, N’djamena, has been in the MSF intensive care unit in Bokoro town for four days. She is there with her granddaughter, Katalma Moussa who is two years old. Zara Abba was visiting Bokoro to pay her respects to a family member who'd died when her granddaughter fell ill. “She hadn’t put much weight on for a while and then she started to get diarrhoea and her health got even worse. She hasn’t had any energy to be able to play with other children.” “This is my daughter’s first child. She’s still in N’djamena but I’ve been speaking to her every day. She calls to ask about the health of her daughter. I say her daughter is getting better. MSF have gone above and beyond to help your daughter. They’ve worked really hard.” Zara Abba also has a two year old daughter of her own. “I would travel all the way to France for my children’s health.” She says. “I have given birth to 15 children. Seven of them have died and eight are still living. Two of them were twins and they died on the same day they were born. The others, I don’t know why, it was God’s choice.”
Chad

Patient stories, malnutrition in Bokoro region

Severe malnutrition is very common among babies and young children in Chad and often relatives may not be aware of the severity of their child’s illness because it’s what they’re used to seeing. In addition, there are few health services in Chad and they often don’t have the necessary medicine, so relatives don’t always seek help. Voices from the Field - 15 Sep 2016
 
Mariam Ahian is 35 years old and from Gama. Today is the first time she's been to the MSF mobile malnutrition clinic. "I don't live far from Gama centre so it was easy to get here. I live very close. I decided to come because my daughter is ill. She has had diarrhoea and has been vomiting for the last week." Mariam sits in a consultation with an MSF nurse who tell her that her daughter is severely malnourished and needs to receive treatment from the MSF clinic. The babies all have their temperature taken and are checked for other health problems. Mariam's daughter also has an eye infection. MSF staff give her an antibiotic cream, along with plumpynut and soap, and tell her she must wash her hands before and after applying the cream to her baby's eyes. This kind of basic hygiene education is vital to tackling malnutrition in Chad, as a lack of hygiene causes many babies to get diarrhoea.
Chad

Recurring malnutrition, a silent epidemic devastating the country

Project Update - 15 Sep 2016
 
msf-placeholder
Access to medicines

The naked truth

Project Update - 14 Sep 2016
 
A nurse verifies blood-type compatibility before administering a blood transfusion to eight-year-old Adut Chuor Kujal, who is receiving treatment for cerebral malaria in the inpatient ward at the MSF hospital in Aweil city. Adut's father presses down on her fingertip which had been pricked to obtain a blood sample. Adut's family lives in a remote rural village and Adut had been sick for several days before her father made the journey to the MSF hospital at Aweil city. He first took her to a private clinic closer to their home, but it had no malaria drugs in stock.
Access to medicines

MSF urges governments to set medical research policies that align with people’s health needs

“People in poor and wealthy countries alike are now finding that the medicines they need either don’t exist, or are priced so high they can’t afford them, and governments need to solve these problems,” said Katy Athersuch, Medical Access and Innovation Policy Advisor of MSF’s Access Campaign. Press Release - 13 Sep 2016
 
*** Local Caption *** MSF has been working in the hospital in Paoua (173 beds) since 2006. Working alongside the Ministry of Health, our activities include emergency care, outpatient and inpatient treatment, internal medicine, paediatrics, obstetrics/maternity, HIV-AIDS and tuberculosis treatment, surgery and routine vaccination. MSF also supports a health centre in the town. Between March (when MSF took over the emergency room at the hospital) and October 2014, 9,640 consultations were provided at the hospital and 50,617 in the surrounding areas, 103 of which were for violence-related injuries. In total, an average of 59% of consultations concerned children under five and 76% were for malaria. There were 6,489 patients hospitalised in Paoua, including 1,208 suffering from malaria in the paediatric unit and 123 with violence-related injuries. Also, 1,976 surgical procedures were performed, 329 for violence-related injuries, and 1,213 children were admitted to our nutrition programme. MSF provided 7,890 antenatal consultations, assisted 1,354 natural deliveries and performed 128 caesareans. There were 6,148 children vaccinated against measles. MSF is treating 13,288 patients with HIV/AIDS and 8,730 are on antiretroviral treatment.
Central African Republic

Providing guidance to ensure high quality care

Voices from the Field - 13 Sep 2016
 
On Monday September 12, at 0700 ships time, a healthy baby boy was born on board MV Aquarius, a search and rescue vessel run in partnership between MSF and SOS MEDITERRANEE. He was born in international waters to Nigerian parents who named him Newman Otas. Mother Faith recounts “I was very stressed on the rubber boat, sitting on the floor of the boat with the other women and children. Panicking that I would go into labor. I could feel my baby moving, he would move down and then move back up again. I had been having contractions for three days.” MSF Midwife Jonquil Nicholl delivered the baby “A very normal birth in dangerously abnormal conditions. I am filled with horror at the thought of what would have happened if this baby had arrived 24 hours earlier; in that unseaworthy rubber boat, with fuel on the bottom where the women sit, crammed in with no space to move, at the mercy of the sea. And 48 hours previously they were waiting on a beach in Libya not knowing what was ahead of them. How can this still this still happen in 2016? That families, vulnerable people, pregnant women, tiny babies and unborn babies are forced to risk their lives in the Mediterranean Sea when they should be receiving assistance and protection.”
Mediterranean migration

A very normal birth in dangerously abnormal conditions

On 12 September, a healthy baby boy was born on board MV Aquarius, a search and rescue vessel run in partnership between MSF and SOS Méditerranée. He was born in international waters to Nigerian parents, who named their baby Newman Otas.

 Project Update - 12 Sep 2016
 
More than 200 families from Nigeria and Chad have reached the town of Toumour, located in east Diffa region, in recent days fleeing violence and hunger in their hometowns. 77 of the families newly arrived in Toumour lived in very poor conditions, without enough food and any good. To alleviate this situation, an MSF team has distributed NFI kits for these 77 families.
Niger

MSF assists hundreds of newly displaced people in eastern Diffa

“Given the critical situation in the areas of Nigeria and Chad that border Niger, it is likely that Toumour will continue to receive more refugees in such a precarious condition as this last group,” explains Youssouf Demdelé, MSF’s deputy head of mission in Niger. Project Update - 9 Sep 2016
 
MSF Medical team leader, Crystal Vanleeuwen in front of the outpatient department in Al-Thawra hospital in the besieged area of Taiz. A siege has been imposed on the city by Houthis since late August 2015. MSF was not able to enter medical aid into the enclave area for five months. Only on January 16th, MSF got the authorization and delivered medical aid to Al-Thawra hospital inside the enclave area.
Yemen

Healthcare at breaking point

"In the public hospitals that are still functioning in Yemen, beds are full – those people who are able come from all over the country to access what medical care is available," says Crystal van Leeuwen, an MSF nurse. "For others, all that remains are private clinics that, in the current economic crisis, people can barely afford." Voices from the Field - 9 Sep 2016
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.

Learn more