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.
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.
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.
Treating malnourished children in Beni Shiekh, Nigeria
Al Zara is from Mainok, a town in Borno state that is frequently attacked by Boko Haram. Her son, a father of two girls, was killed during one of the attacks. Al Zara is at the therapeutic feeding centre managed by MSF in Damaturu, in neighbouring Yobe state. Her daughter-in-law and her two granddaughters are both suffering from severe acute malnutrition. The girls were referred from Beni Shiekh, a town in west Borno, where thousands of internally displaced people have moved in recent months fleeing violence.
Ikram N'gadi
In Beni Shiekh, around 30 to 40 per cent of the population (roughly 33,000 people) is displaced, but the figure could be much higher. Many of those displaced live with local people, but many others have settled in government buildings. There are eight recognised camps within the town and several more in the suburbs. The main source of income for people comes from collecting firewood and then selling it on the roadside.
Ikram N'gadi
Malnutrition is one of the main problems, especially for children. When displaced people are forced to flee their homes because of the violence, many also leave their farmlands behind. Even when there is space to grow crops at the new sites where thousands of people have gathered, it is not large enough to sustain the population.
Ikram N'gadi
Children can die very quickly from severe acute malnutrition, which makes early detection and treatment extremely important. In Beni Shiekh, as well neighbouring towns of Ngamdu and Minok, MSF assesses children under five years old for malnutrition. Those suffering from severe acute malnutrition are immediately entered into the outpatient feeding programme.
Ikram N'gadi
At MSF’s outpatient feeding centre in Beni Shiekh, Zara Alamin’s five-month-old baby is suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Although this is the most serious type of malnutrition, it can be treated on an outpatient basis if there are no medical complications or other associated diseases. From mid-July to late August, 850 children were enrolled in the outpatient programme.
Ikram N'gadi
Seventy children have had to be referred from Beni Shiekh to Damaturu hospital for treatment. That was the case for this girl, who is slowly recovering from severe acute malnutrition. Her father was killed in an attack by Boko Haram three years ago and her mother was left to care for seven children. She survives on what her eldest son can manage to beg for his family.
Ikram N'gadi
Food, protection, medical care, clean water and shelter are the main needs for the population in northeastern Nigeria. These people have been suffering for years because of the violence and the conflict; in many cases, they have had no choice but to move to stay alive.
Ikram N'gadi
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