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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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Abdoulaye (name changed), refugee from Gambia in the reception facility for asylum seekers in Halberstadt in Eastern Germany. Stefanie, midwife with MSF, and Abdoulaye (not his real name), refugee from Gambia, met twice within a few months in exceptional situations: first on the SAR ship Ocean Viking on the Mediterranean, then in quarantine for coronavirus in the reception centre for asylum seekers in Halberstadt in Eastern Germany. In order to cope with a Covid-19 outbreak in the reception centre for asylum seekers in Halberstadt, the authorities of Saxony-Anhalt agreed on a three-week assignment with MSF in April/May 2020 to support health education and psychosocial care.
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

Escaping first Libya, and then coronavirus in Germany

Stefanie, an MSF midwife and Abdoulaye from Gambia met twice within a few months: first on a search and rescue boat, and then in quarantine for coronavirus in northeastern Germany. Voices from the Field - 15 Jun 2020
 
MSF team on training before opening COVID-19 centre in Tegucigalpa
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

Caring for COVID-19 patients in Tegucigalpa

As numbers of COVID-19 cases rise in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, an MSF has started caring for patients with severe symptoms of the disease. Project Update - 13 Jun 2020
 
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in support of the Khayelitsha District Hospital, opens a COVID-19 treatment facility to meet the needs of the local community during the epidemic. Established in Khayelitsha Multi-purpose Centre, a City of Cape Town-owned community sports centre in close proximity to the hospital.Khayelitsha Field Hospital, it will help manage hospital overflow for moderate COVID-19 cases. The facility will be operational from 01 June, providing a capacity of 60 beds. 6 medical doctors and 8 nurses employed by MSF will staff the treatment facility. Officially named Khayelitsha Intermediate Care Facility, it will operate during the time of the projected peak of transmission in the Cape Metropolitan area. MSF will continue to support the Khayelitsha District Hospital until needs have subsided.
South Africa

MSF opens field hospital as South Africa braces for COVID-19

The Khayelitsha community has borne the brunt of COVID-19 infections in the country, spurring Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to develop a 60-bed overflow treatment facility in a field hospital next to the district hospital. Project Update - 12 Jun 2020
 
The river flooded all the houses and destroyed most of the inhabitants' belongings in Comunidad El Granjero 2. David Salguero washes what was left of his bed in one of the passages.
El Salvador

Tropical Storm Amanda is “the last straw” for families in El Salvador amid COVID-19

Families in El Salvador, already having had to fend off gang violence and the COVID-19 pandemic, now face more difficulties in access to medical care after Tropical Storm Amanda wreaked havoc. Project Update - 11 Jun 2020
 
In April, 11 MSF staff joined the University College London Hospital (UCLH) Find and Treat team in establishing the UK’s only Covid care facility for people experiencing homelessness. The project provided rapid testing, accommodation for self-isolation and medical care for members of the London homeless community with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. MSF brought expertise on outbreak and emergency response, helping the facility to be opened rapidly and safely with nursing and logistical support. At the time of opening, people with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 had already been identified in several homeless hotels across London and were transferred to the facility for care. As surveillance in the hotels, other accommodation, and in hospitals continued, people experiencing homelessness with symptoms of COVID-19 were identified and transferred to the Covid Care Centre for testing, isolation, and nursing support. As patient numbers in the Covid Care Centre began to decrease, MSF nurses joined UCLH’s Find & Treat teams on their screening programmes. Initially, this was to screen for COVID-19 in homeless accommodation across London, as well as joining the street teams who engage with those still rough sleeping. The screening aimed to identify patients and detect any clusters of cases that may be occurring in this vulnerable population. To date, over 1,300 people experiencing homelessness have been tested for COVID-19 through this approach. In late May, as the number of positive COVID-19 cases reduced, the Find & Treat teams evolved their screenings to include blood-borne viruses including HIV, hepatitis C, as well as syphilis. These are diseases that people experiencing homelessness are at risk of. With large numbers of this vulnerable community staying in hotels, it was an opportunity for medical teams to try and engage them within the health system. MSF staff joined the Find & Treat teams to undertake this screening, with 600 people being fully screened over a two-week period. It is hoped that these screenings will help health services better engage with homeless populations in the longer term. Following this screening period, MSF has now concluded its involvement with the project and members of our nursing team have joined the UCLH team for the coming weeks as the project winds down due to consistently low numbers – in line with the decrease in cases we are seeing across the UK. This project represented the first time since MSF was founded in 1971 that we were providing medical assistance in the UK. We intended this to be a short-term project in the UK and now the NHS has more capacity to cope, it is the right time to withdraw our staffing support and continue to focus our work in regions of the world most affected by medical and humanitarian crises. We remain ready to rapidly increase our support again should the situation deteriorate in the future and we identify critical gaps in the UK response to COVID-19.
United Kingdom

MSF support to London COVID-19 care centre ends

msf.org.uk - 11 Jun 2020
 
Dayana Tabbarah, MSF health promoter, is talking to an elderly woman in the streets of Burj al-Barajneh camp, Beirut. Dayana has been working with MSF for the past six years. “Talking to people in the streets and listening to their medical concerns has changed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, we must maintain a social distance of two meters to follow the protection measures”, she says. “In the past years, we have built up a good and strong relation with the camp’s residents, so we are able to work, support and help Burj al-Barajneh´s community”. Dayana visits the houses of residents who had agreed to participate in the shielding approach recently put in place by MSF in the camp, as part of its COVID-19 response. المرشدة الصحية مع منظّمة أطباء بلا حدود دايانا طبارة تتحدّث إلى امرأة مسنة في شوارع مخيم برج البراجنة في بيروت. تعمل دايانا مع أطباء بلا حدود منذ ستّ سنوات؛ وتقول، "لقد تغيّرت طريقة الحديث مع الناس في الشوارع والاستماع إلى مشاكلهم الطبية منذ انتشار جائحة كوفيد-19. يتعيّن علينا اليوم تنفيذ التباعد الاجتماعي المتمثل في الحفاظ على مسافة مترَين بيننا بغية اتباع إجراءات الحماية". وتُردف قائلةً، "في السنوات الماضية، بنينا علاقة جيدة وقوية مع سكان المخيم، ولذلك نحن قادرون على العمل مع مجتمع برج البراجنة ودعمه ومساعدته". تزور ديانا بانتظام منازل المرضى الذين وافقوا على المشاركة في برنامج الحماية الوقائية الذي وضعته منظّمة أطباء بلا حدود مؤخراً في المخيم كجزء من استجابتها لمرض كوفيد-19.
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

“COVID-19 has brought suffering to people everywhere, but its impact is not shared equally”

MSF International President Dr Christos Christou tells the United Nations Economic and Social Council that countries must address the inequality and exclusion seen in healthcare. Speech - 10 Jun 2020
 
Yemen, gouvernorat de Sanaa, mars 2018. Vue du toit du bureau de MSF à Sanaa. Sanaa governorate in Yémen, March 2018. View from MSF office rooftop in Sanaa.
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

“COVID-19 has made the health system's collapse complete” in Yemen

MSF is treating patients severely ill with coronavirus at our COVID-19 centre in Sana’a, Yemen, where the 15-bed ICU has been mostly full for the past four weeks. People are dying of the new coronavirus at a high rate as our teams try to save lives.

 Project Update - 10 Jun 2020
 
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has opened a COVID-19 treatment center in Drouillard, Cité Soleil, with a capacity of 20 beds. MSF will treat patients tested positive for COVID-19 who need hospitalization or oxygen, and have been referred by the Ministry of Public Health and Population. Patients will then spend 14 days recovering in these tents, on the hospital grounds.
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 cases in Haiti spike dramatically as MSF opens treatment centre

In response to the growing spread of COVID-19 in Haiti, MSF opened the Drouillard treatment centre in Port-au-Prince, to care for people with severe cases of the coronavirus.  Project Update - 5 Jun 2020
 
Displaced families live in makeshift shelters in Fada, Eastern Burkina Faso.
Burkina Faso

Out of sight, people suffer from rise in violence in eastern Burkina Faso

Abdallah Hussein, MSF's head of mission in Burkina Faso, describes how a surge in violence, and the threat of COVID-19 has impacted people's lives in the country's east. Op-Ed - 5 Jun 2020
 
Burnt out building in Macomia Mozambique
Mozambique

Thousands displaced, healthcare jeopardised, as violence surges in Cabo Delgado

Violence has erupted again in northeastern Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province, forcing people to hide in the bush and jeopardising access to healthcare. Press Release - 5 Jun 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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