In more than 70 countries, Médecins Sans Frontières provides medical humanitarian assistance to save lives and ease the suffering of people in crisis situations.
We set up the MSF Access Campaign in 1999 to push for access to, and the development of, life-saving and life-prolonging medicines, diagnostic tests and vaccines for people in our programmes and beyond.
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.
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.
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.
This logistical and supply centre in Brussels provides storage of and delivers medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions.
This supply and logistics centre in Bordeaux, France, provides warehousing and delivery of medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions.
This logistical centre in Amsterdam purchases, tests, and stores equipment including vehicles, communications material, power supplies, water-processing facilities and nutritional supplements.
SAMU provides strategic, clinical and implementation support to various MSF projects with medical activities related to HIV and TB. This medical unit is based in Cape Town, South Africa.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Luxembourg Operational Research (LuxOR) unit coordinates field research projects and operational research training, and provides support for documentation activities and routine data collection.
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.
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.
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.
Years of conflict have forced millions of people from their homes.
Exposed to extreme violence and living in fear for their lives, hundreds of thousands of people in South Sudan are unable to access basic necessities such as food, water and healthcare.
We work in hospitals and clinics throughout the country, where we are running some of our biggest programmes worldwide.
Our teams provide basic and specialised healthcare and respond to emergencies and outbreaks affecting isolated communities, internally displaced people and refugees from Sudan.
MSF teams are currently responding to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in South Sudan.
What’s happening in South Sudan? How is MSF meeting urgent medical needs? How are we making a long-term impact?
Splintered by conflict, South Sudan struggles to meet the essential needs of its people. For many, access to even basic healthcare, food and water is a struggle.
Will Harper, a former head of mission for MSF in South Sudan, talks about some reasons for optimism despite the tremendous humanitarian challenges.
Why are we here?
01Conflict and displacement
Tens of thousands of people in South Sudan have died and roughly one in three have been forced from their homes since renewed conflict broke out in December 2013. Our teams are constantly on the move to continue to provide displaced people with medical care. Our South Sudanese staff have also been displaced, and have continued to care for patients while hiding from violence. We also provide much-needed medical and mental health care in Protection of Civilians camps, where hundreds of thousands of people remain trapped in a hostile and insalubrious environment.
02Insufficient healthcare
Medical care is practically non-existent for people living in remote areas of South Sudan, even those spared from much of the violence associated with the war. We run hospitals and clinics and support existing state facilities, in particular with maternal, paediatric and neonatal care and outbreak response. We train community healthcare workers, run outreach and preventive activities such as vaccination campaigns, and treat diseases such as tuberculosis and kala azar (visceral leishmaniasis).
03Malaria
Malaria is one of the leading causes of sickness and death in South Sudan, especially among children. Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of contracting malaria during the three-month malaria peak, which begins in the country’s rainy season and can overwhelm medical workers.
04Malnutrition
At their peak in 2017, malnutrition rates among our patients in Pibor were three times higher than the previous year. We carried out an emergency nutritional intervention here and in response to reports of alarming levels of malnutrition in Mayendit and Leer counties.
05Cholera
Like malaria, cholera is endemic in South Sudan. As well as vaccinating almost 200,000 people in the capital, Juba, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, our teams responded to outbreaks in Lankien and Aburoc in 2017.
06Sudanese refugees
We provide basic and specialised healthcare for Sudanese refugees living in camps in Yida and Doro and for the surrounding communities, including mass vaccinations and treatment for malaria and malnutrition.
In 2019
1,120,900
1,120,9
outpatient consultations
292,100
292,1
malaria cases treated
61,000
61,
vaccinations against measles in response to an outbreak
Featured
International Activity Report 2017
South Sudan without Borders: MSF efforts to help the displaced
7 Jun 2018
South Sudan
Falling international funding exposes communities in Jonglei to a lack of healthcare
Project Update19 Jan 2021
South Sudan
Fear of violence, poor living conditions in South Sudan’s largest displacement camp
Project Update3 Dec 2020
South Sudan
Urgent vaccination campaign needed to stop spread of measles in Pibor
Press Release3 Nov 2020
About MSF
Do you leave or do you stay: COVID-19 in South Sudan
msf.org1 Nov 2020
South Sudan
Worsening flooding increases health risks
Project Update22 Oct 2020
South Sudan
Young biotechnologists at the forefront of the COVID-19 response
Project Update1 Oct 2020
South Sudan
Heavy floods threaten the lives of thousands of people in Greater Pibor
Project Update23 Sep 2020
About MSF
Challenging times in Old Fangak
msf.org17 Sep 2020
South Sudan
A forgotten crisis continues
Project Update20 Aug 2020
1983
1983
Year MSF first worked in the country
Related topics
Crisis Settings
War and conflict
Around one-quarter of our humanitarian and medical assistance is for populations caught in armed conflict.
Crisis Settings
Refugees, IDPs and people on the move
There are many reasons for flight, including war, persecution, conflict, natural disaster, destitution and repression. With health and well-being jeopardised, the lives of the most vulnerable can be at risk.
Medical Activities
Malaria
Each year, malaria kills nearly half a million people. 70 per cent of all deaths are children under five years of age.
Medical Activities
Malnutrition
More than 224 million children around the world last year suffered from malnutrition. It is the underlying contributing factor in nearly half of the deaths of children under five years of age.
Medical Activities
Cholera
Although easy to prevent and treat, cholera affects up to 4 million people worldwide per year, resulting in up to 140,000 deaths.
