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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 Ebola Gaza Israel war Humanitarian aid cuts

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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8007 Results
 
Patient on stretcher being carried to ward. Many international staff were based here in previous years. But due to the insecurity, the hospital is now completely run by Somali staff paied and employed by MSF. It is MSF general policy to have all its structures ‘weapon free’. At the entrance of the Guri-el Hospital, all persons entering the hospital compound are checked with a metal detector. As a result of the ‘weapon free’ policy, the MSF structures are recognized as neutral places where patients feel safe in a country where weapons abound. Nearly all children arrive at the hospital with severe or moderate malnutrition. The paediatric wards are completely full. On top of the malnutrition, many have measles. Infectious diseases like watery and bloody diarrhea have recently become more common. The other main issues in children are lower respiratory tract infections, gastroenteritis and malaria. Because of the collapse of the healthcare system, a large proportion of the population has not been vaccinated against measles and other diseases. The combination of acute malnutrition and measles can be deadly for children in Somalia. Several camps for displaced people are located around the town of Guri-el. People have been fleeing violence (and more recently the iolence (and more recently the drought). They have abandoned everything and live in very basic makeshift shelters. An MSF teamcarries out medical and nutritional consultations several times a week in the camps. Somalia’s humanitarian crisis continues to be one of the worst in the world. This year, Somalis have faced the system. Throughout 2011 Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ran medical projects in up to 22 different locations in south-central Somalia, the epicenter of the crisis, as well as large-scale programs in the Somali refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya. In the period from May to December 2011, MSF treated over 95,000 patients for malnutrition, and treated over 6,000 patients for measles and vaccinated almost 235,000 children against the disease. Within its various health care structures MSF assisted in over 5,500 deliveries and provided over 450,000 consultations. However, despite intense negotiations with armed groups, access to the most affected regions inside south-central Somalia has remained difficult. MSF first worked in Somalia in 1979 and has been present in the country with few interruptions since 1991, when a civil war erupted following the downfall of the country's dictator, Siad Barre. MSF has worked in several locations: Baidoa, Dinsor, Huddur, Jamaame, Jowhar, Kismayo, Marere, and the capital, Mogadishu, in the south; Galcayo and Guri El in the north-central area; and Belet Weyne in central Somalia. Teams have addressed a host of different crises in their many projects, focusing in particular on nutrition, emergency care for people wounded in conflict, mother and child healthcare, and treatment of infectious diseases, including cholera, measles, kala azar, and tuberculosis (TB). MSF is the only international organization providing medical and nutritional care in Guri-el town in Galgaduud region of South Central Somalia..Previously, more than 15 international staff were based here but they had to be withdrawn due to security threats. Somalis employed and trained by MSF now run the hospital, regional MSF staff from Somali origin ran the emergency projects. Access to health care is a major issue in Somalia. In a circle of 150km around Guri-el, there are no medical doctors except for those at the MSF supported hospital.
Somalia

MSF forced to close all medical programmes in Somalia

MSF today announced the closure of all its programmes in Somalia after working continuously in Somalia since 1991. Press Release - 14 Aug 2013
 
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Somalia

MSF forced to withdraw from Somalia - indepth interview

An indepth interview on MSF's decision to withdraw completely from Somalia. An MSF General Director, Arjan Hehenkamp, speaks to Somali journalist Hamza Mohamed. Project Update - 14 Aug 2013
 
Press conference in Nairobi on 14 August 2013, in which MSF International President Dr. Unni Krishnan Karunakara, announced the closure of all MSF activities in Somalia because of attacks on patients and staff and non-respect for humanitarian action.
Somalia

Closing of MSF medical programmes in Somalia

Transcript of MSF's teleconference on the closing of MSF medical programmes in Somalia Project Update - 14 Aug 2013
 
In April 2010 MSF is started a measles vaccination campaign targeting 38,000 children under 5 this week at Argungu LGA (Local Government Area), Kebbi. During the campaign, 47,569 children aged 6 months to 5 years were vaccinated. The teams believe mobilisation of the community, which included the involvement of senior community and religious leaders, was very effective.
Nigeria

MSF responds to measles outbreak

Since the end of 2012, Katsina State in northern Nigeria has experienced a measles outbreak, which has just ended after lasting 28 weeks. MSF supported the authorities by providing epidemiological surveillance and case management in Katsina’s 34 local government areas. Project Update - 13 Aug 2013
 
46-year old Christine Yatoungou is being tested for HIV/Aids at a hospital in Bossangoa, in northwest Central African Republic. MSF has launched an emergency re-fill of HIV drugs for the affected population after hospitals and health centres were looted during a coup d'etat in March. Christine has been infected with HIV/Aids since 2006 and due to the war her treatment was interrupted during 2 months. After being re-confirmed as having the disease, she is now receiving life saving drugs.
HIV/AIDS

As FDA approves new HIV drug dolutegravir, MSF asks when people in developing countries will have access

As the US Food and Drug Administration approved the new HIV drug dolutegravir late yesterday, MSF questioned when people in developing countries would be able to access this promising new drug. Press Release - 13 Aug 2013
 
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South Sudan

MSF condemns the killing and wounding of its team members near Juba, South Sudan

On Monday, 5 August, a group of armed men attacked a car belonging to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on a main road outside Juba, South Sudan. Press Release - 9 Aug 2013
 
In and around Pinga, an MSF team has been reaching out to populations trapped by the conflict by running mobile clinics via motorbike and providing medical services to people who have no other hope of getting medical care. Conditions are extremely difficult; the only way to access mobile clinics is with motorcycle convoys because cars can¿t pass through the narrow jungle paths. Teams travel in a convoy of 5 or 6 bikes, each bike with two people and loaded with drugs and medical material.
Democratic Republic of Congo

MSF suspends medical activities in Pinga after threats to staff

MSF has been forced to suspend medical activities in the town of Pinga and its immediate surroundings in the east of the DRC after a targeted threat to the safety of its humanitarian staff. Statement - 9 Aug 2013
 
Sudanese refugees began streaming across the border into South Sudan in June 2011 when conflict erupted between the Khartoum government and the rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in Sudan’s South Kordofan State. At the height of the crisis in Yida camp last summer, high mortality rates were reported among young children admitted to MSF’s hospital with respiratory tract infections, such as pneumonia, one of the leading causes of death. MSF determined that vaccinating with the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) could result in a substantial mortality reduction in Yida. MSF has been working since September 2012 to procure PCV but faced significant delays due to lengthy negotiations and international legal procurement constraints. MSF was eventually able to obtain the vaccine from GSK at a reduced price, but delays have now pushed the planned vaccination into the logistically challenging rainy season. The objective is to immunize approximately 5,000 children under the age of 2 against several pathogens, including haemophilus influenza type B and pneumococcus. This is the first time that PCV is being used in South Sudan and one of the first vaccines to be implemented in compliance with the new WHO emergency vaccination recommendations.
South Sudan

Global vaccination community turns its back on getting new vaccines to refugee children

MSF starts first use of pneumococcal vaccine in South Sudan Press Release - 8 Aug 2013
 
48-year old Linda Vilakati is one of 55 patients who have just successfully completed treatment for MDR-TB in Swaziland. Linda is a member of the first group to have completed two years of a grueling regimen for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) at MSF’s project in Mankayane, run in partnership with Swaziland’s Ministry of Health.
Eswatini

First group of MDR-TB patients celebrate end of treatment

Fifty-five Swazi patients celebrate successful cure Project Update - 7 Aug 2013
 
Since early 2013, violent clashes have erupted between several tribes in Darfur, leading to the displacement of thousands of people. About 70 000 persons, mainly women and children, have crossed the border to seek refuge into neighboring Chad, in Tissi, a village located accross Chadian, Sudanese and Central African borders. Deprived from any assistance for several weeks, families live under makeshift shelters or trees, without food and drinkable water. An MSF team came to assess their medical needs, conduct consultations et transfer the most serious cases to Goz Beida hospital. <br/> Depuis le début de l'année 2013, de violents combats opposent plusieurs tribus du Darfour et provoquent le déplacement de dizaines de milliers de personnes. Près de 70 000 personnes, dont une majorité de femmes et d'enfants, ont traversé la frontière pour se réfugier au Tchad voisin, dans la région de Tissi, village situé à la croisée des frontières soudanaise, tchadienne et centrafricaine. Privées d'assistance pendant plusieurs semaines, les familles vivent dans des abris de fortune ou sous des arbres, sans nourriture ni eau potable. Une équipe de Médecins Sans Frontières s'est rendue auprès d'elles pour évaluer leurs besoins médicaux, mener des consultations et transférer les cas les plus graves vers l'hôpital de Goz Beida.
Sudan

Mortality survey raises concerns over humanitarian situation in Darfu

Violence in Darfur major cause of mortality among refugees Press Release - 6 Aug 2013
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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