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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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8003 Results
 
MSF nurse checking the vital signs and glucose level of a diabetes patient at the MSF-run clinic for non-communicable diseases in the Hawija General Hospital in Hawija, Kirkuk.
Medical activities

Non-communicable diseases

Non-communicable diseases require lifelong care. Topic
 
Mosoaya Harrison Karrau, MSF Physiotherapist, does exercises with Fatima, a 20-year-old noma survivor who had trismus caused by noma. Trismus is a medical condition that noma can caused and that blocks the jaws. May 5, 2023.
Medical activities

Neglected diseases

MSF teams treat a number of neglected diseases, including noma, Chagas, cutaneous leishmaniasis, in projects across the world. Topic
 
"There is nothing good about this job. Every day I think about whether to leave or continue, but I can't choose to leave, I have no money." Hamida Ajida (false name to protect her identity) says she has no choice: engaging in sex work is her only option. At 29, she has been in the business for three years now. She works in Dedza, a small, dusty town on the border with Mozambique where MSF runs the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Sexual Violence Program. Her story is the story of so many women in the same situation: Three years ago, Hamida ran a business selling vegetables and charckoal in Mangochi, where she was married with three children. Between her and her husband, they were supporting the family, but one day, without any explanation, her husband left her for another woman, a fact that changed Hamida's future: since then she could not support herself financially and had to start working as a sex worker in a bar in Dedza. In a weak voice and with her eyes on her knees, she says: "I started in 2020 to feed my children and my four siblings. Every month I have to send money for them, but it's never enough." Hamida charges 4,000 Malawi kwacha (3.20 euros) per service, and pays 2,500 kwacha a day to rent the room where she works. She says that when everything was going well she could have as many as 8 clients, but that is not the case now. "Nowadays I have one or even none. Many times I go to sleep on an empty stomach." She says the biggest challenge she faces is dealing with men who take advantage of her by not honoring price agreements. "When we finish, some clients take the money and leave. We have no one to protect us from threats and physical violence." Until three months ago, Hamida's three-year-old son lived with her in the room, but she took him away because the clients did not like having a baby hanging around the room. Thanks to the goodwill of Mercy, a woman who sometimes went to do laundry and food at the bar, Hamida managed to leave the son with her t
Medical activities

Sexual violence

Sexual violence affects millions of people, brutally shattering the lives of women, men and children. It is a medical emergency, but there is often a dire lack of healthcare services for victims. Topic
 
A MSF lab technician, who travels with a mobile laboratory, including microscopes and centrifuges, tests a blood sample for sleeping sickness. MSF mobile medical teams are spending 8 months travelling through DRC and aim to test and treat 42,000 people for sleeping sickness.
Medical activities

Sleeping sickness

Sleeping sickness, or human African trypanosomiasis, is a neglected tropical disease. It is a potentially fatal parasitic infection which attacks the body’s central nervous system, causing severe neurological conditions. Topic
 
During two weeks between October and November 2023, a total of 32 reconstructive surgeries were carried out by a team of highly trained Nigerian, American and Japanese surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses.
Medical activities

Surgery & trauma care

Médecins Sans Frontières has been providing surgical care for people in precarious contexts for decades. Topic
 
Truck driver Johnny is given a free chest X-ray at one of MSF's active case finding sites for tuberculosis on March 13, 2023 in Tondo, Manila, Philippines.
Medical activities

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world’s biggest global health crises. Killing 1.3 million people in 2022 TB is the world’s second deadliest infectious disease after COVID-19 (WHO). Topic
 
Individuals receive their doses of the yellow fever vaccine at vaccination posts strategically set up in markets and throughout the community in Yambio, fortifying defenses against the ongoing outbreak in Western Equatoria State.
Medical activities

Yellow fever

Yellow fever can be prevented with a vaccine, yet it's a disease that claims the lives of an estimated 30,000 - 60,000 people each year. Topic
 
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs health care facilities in the UN protection of civilians camp (PoC) in Bentiu, South Sudan. The MSF hospital in the Bentiu PoC is the only hospital for the population of the camp. It provides 24-hour emergency room care, intensive care for malnourished children, medical treatment in paediatric and adult wards, and surgical and maternity services. More than 100,000 people live in dire living conditions in the Bentiu PoC, having fled ongoing violence. The MSF staff consisted out of international staff (round the 20) and national staff ( round 500). The national staff members are people themselves affected by the violence in South Sudan and live as IDP’s in the camp.

International Activity Report 2016

Almost one-third of our projects in 2016 were dedicated to providing assistance to populations caught in wars, such as in Yemen, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria and Syria. We also provided assistance to people on the move, fleeing repression, poverty or violence, exploitation or danger as countries closed options for safe and legal routes. Our teams responded to other emergencies caused by epidemics and natural disasters and provided care and improved treatment for patients with diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV. Annual Report - 25 Jun 2017
 
Nurses of the Ministry of Health receive training in Sangker operational district, ahead of the relaunch of the hepatitis C nursing activity pilot, where nurses will lead the care of hepatitis C patients. In addition to skills related to hepatitis C, new measures around infection prevention control regarding COVID-19 are taught. Until the end of June 2020, just 141 cases were confirmed in Cambodia, and a quarter of them originates from a European tourist group in March. The authorities were quick to implement thorough contact tracing and asked our teams to help with this. We’ve also contributed to the new IPC and clinical guidelines for Cambodia and developed training units. Subsequently, about 300 staff members of hospitals run by the Ministry of health received training. Given the difficulty of importing medical equipment, the team is now trying innovative approaches to develop oxygen ventilation systems by using commercially available diving masks and 3D-printing the necessary connectors in the country in anticipation of an outbreak of COVID-19 in Cambodia.
Asia & Pacific

Cambodia

We handed over our projects in Cambodia in 2021. Country
 
In Congo's rainforest, MSF cured 15.000 pygmies affected by Yaws, a neglected disease, in 3 months (Sept - Oct 2012) using a new therapeutic regime (single dose oral antibiotic) Yaws is a neglected tropical disease caused by a bacterium that affects the skin, bone and cartilage. Lack of resources, it has never been completely eradicated. Humans are the only reservoir of this bacterial infection. A recent discovery that a single-dose of azithromycin (given orally) can cure the disease has raised the prospects of eradicating yaws altogether. It affects many isolated communities whose populations Congo Pigmy North, away from the health care system. MSF-Epicentre with OCP decided to launch a universal treatment with azithromycin that can eradicate this illness among Aboriginal people (Pygmies) in the Bétou and Enyellé districts. During two months (in september and october 2012), three MSF teams have traveled on the Ubangi River, which separates the two Congos and trails through the rainforest. A real human and logistical challenge to achieve these Pygmy communities in their villages in the rainy season because it is the only time during which they are sedentary.
Africa

Republic of Congo

MSF first worked in Congo in 1997 and closed its projects in 2013. Country
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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