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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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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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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
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Families heading to dry land in Bentiu. 835,000 people have been directly affected by the flooding. Across Unity state people’s homes and livelihoods (crops and cattle), as well as health facilities, schools, and markets, are completely submerged by floodwaters.

Natural hazards

Families heading to dry land in Bentiu. Approximately 835,000 people have been directly affected by flooding across Unity state. South Sudan, December 2021.
© Sean Sutton
An earthquake, tsunami, flood or cyclone can have a devastating impact on entire communities.

Within a matter of minutes, natural hazards can affect the lives of tens of thousands of people. Hundreds or even thousands of people can be injured, homes and livelihoods destroyed. Access to clean water, healthcare services and transport can also be disrupted. The impact of each event varies greatly and our response must adapt to each situation.

Needs must be quickly identified, but accessing a disaster zone can be complex when roads are cut off. The first responders are people already on-site: community members, local authorities and aid organisations already present.

We keep pre-packaged kits to deploy for rapid relief and life-saving assistance. With projects in over 70 countries, we often have aid workers nearby when a disaster strikes. They can be reinforced with additional teams if a larger response is needed.

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Research & Analysis

Related Topics

MSF response to flooding in Zimbabwe after the flooding that affected Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi in Southern Africa.
In Focus

Cyclone Idai & Southern Africa flooding

A weather system that produced heavy rains flooded parts of Malawi in early March 2019, before developing into Cyclone Idai which struck Mozambique and Zimbabwe on 14-16 March 2019, causing widespread flooding and damage.
Two health workers talk at the Budjala general hospital, supported by MSF. MSF also deployed a team in the Budjala health zone in South Ubangi to support health authorities in the response against Mpox. Particular emphasis is also placed on mental health. In the community, health promoters intervene to ensure disease control and prevention. Thanks to their mobilization, more than 822 contact cases are being monitored for better epidemiological monitoring.
Crisis settings

Epidemics and pandemics

Millions of people still die each year from infectious diseases that are preventable or can be treated.
Lucas Matagodi at Lianda IDP camp in Mueda. Lucas Matangodi Shilongo is over 70 years old, but he doesn't know exactly how old. He is in Lyanda IDP camp in Mueda district, far from his home in Nangade district further north. "If we were at home we would know how to get food, but not here. Many of Lucas' neighbours in the camp are also from Nangade. The war there forced thousands of people to flee. Lucas says that in one of the attacks, insurgents killed his wife, one of his children and another of his grandchildren. He cries when he remembers them, especially his wife. He misses her. He is devastated. "I dream that I'm running away and falling. I dream that I am being chased," he says. Lucas lives with his sister and other relatives in one of the windowed cottages built in this part of the camp. His daughter cooks with her granddaughter inside the hut. In the next room, where the conversation takes place, there is a tin roof and an empty sack of rice from India. Lucas recalls the attack on his village. "They came in and burnt the houses, they kidnapped many people, I was sleeping in the forest, because they had already tried to attack twice and we were waiting for them, the people had left their houses pre-emptively and were mostly sleeping in the forest on the day of the attack. They attacked during sunset. They burnt houses. It was not then that his wife, son and grandson were killed. It was in another attack. Many of the camp residents report fleeing several villages and suffering several attacks along the way. "Before that attack, my wife went to another village to visit my son, and on the same day the insurgents attacked, captured the village and killed my wife, son and grandson. The other grandchildren fled and they were the ones who informed us". Lucas went to the mobile clinic set up by Médecins Sans Frontières in Lyanda camp today for the first time to seek relief. He needs psychological help. "On a daily basis, I think mainly of my wife. I am alone. Sometimes I cry. When I wake up, I'm no longer sleepy and I start to think. I feel bad for my grandchildren, I don't want to talk to them about what happened. I don't have any more worries, because I have the support of my grandchildren. What I think about is that I will never be able to see my wife again. "For the moment I don't think about going back. I want to stay because I am safe here, what worries me is only the food, because it is not enough".

Mozambique

Learn about our medical projects in Mozambique, where we provide specialised care to help curb the country's HIV epidemic while also assisting people in conflict-ridden Cabo Delgado.
A sex worker from Zalewa waits to be seen by Christine Muntali, MSF's Sexual and Reproductive Health nurse supervisor, in the team's ambulance. MSF provides family planning methods and medication to prevent sexually transmitted diseases to women beneficiaries of the project.

Malawi

Learn about our medical projects in Malawi, where an estimated 980,000 people are living with HIV. We are supporting efforts to combat the virus, while also responding to emergencies such as the devastating floods that hit the country in March 2019.
Artisinal miner gets a BP check up by MSF nurse

Zimbabwe

Learn about our medical projects in Zimbabwe, where the economic situation continues to create numerous challenges for the health sector, including shortages of medical supplies and essential medicines.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, June 21, 2022. After being treated and stabilized by the MSF team in Turgeau, these patients, victims of a road accident, were discharged from the hospital and returned home. MSF/Johnson Sabin

Haiti

Political instability, an earthquake in August 2021, a fuel crisis and chronic violence have pushed the healthcare system in Haiti to its limits as needs are on the rise.