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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
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Our offices around the world
Our offices around the world
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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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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.

Surgery & trauma care

During two weeks between October and November 2023, a total of 32 reconstructive surgeries were carried out for noma patients by a team of highly trained Nigerian, American and Japanese surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses. Sokoto, Nigeria, October 2023.
© Alexandre Marcou/MSF
Médecins Sans Frontières has been providing surgical care for people in precarious contexts for more than 40 years.

Surgery in a humanitarian situation is often associated with armed conflict. Yet our teams conduct operations for a variety of needs. In 2025, nearly one in four of the major surgeries we performed were caesarean sections, which is difficult to access in countries with a failing health system or in humanitarian emergencies. The opening of a surgical programme has a number of prerequisites which need medical and logistics resources, such as sterile conditions, qualified personnel, and post-operative capacity.

In 2025
146,500
146,5
surgical interventions requiring anaesthesia
39,400
39,4
caesarean sections performed

Quick facts about surgery and trauma care

Shnider Avril, who was severely burned by an explosion from a propane tank, pauses in the Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Drouillard hospital for burn patients on February 12, 2018, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Shnider, who was severely burned by an explosion from a propane tank, pauses in the MSF Drouillard hospital for burn patients,Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 12 February 2018.
© Spencer Platt/Getty Images
01

Trauma surgery

Our surgeons work in areas of urban violence or low-intensity conflict where health structures are difficult to access or have been degraded. Patients are operated on as a result of injuries from gunshots or knives, after suffering from torture or physical abuse, or after accidents, including for burns.
A patient injured by gunshot during the March of Return is being operated by MSF teams in PFBH
© Laurie Bonnaud/MSF
02

Surgery in war zones

Trauma care in conflict zones needs to be mobile and responsive. In order to improve a patient's chances of survival it's necessary to minimise the time and distance from the point of injury to a hospital with surgical capacity. In places of active conflict, if needed and if possible, we set up stabilisation points so that patients can receive first aid and emergency care, and be transported efficiently to a hospital where they can get life-saving surgery.
March 2016 – The hospital of the war in Middle East by the NGO MSF. The doctor Achraf, maxillofacial surgeon, Palestinian. Son of Hebron’s refugees (1967) he is boxing to calm down his nerves.
© Chris Huby/LE PICTORIUM
03

Reconstructive surgery

After trauma or war wounds, patients may need further reconstructive surgery. We run a dedicated reconstructive surgery hospital in Jordan to reconstruct people's bodies damaged by bomb explosions, bullet wounds, shrapnel or severe burns. In tandem with physiotherapy, surgeons operate to restore functionality and mobility to patients.
OT, MSF hospital, Nasser hospital compound, Khan Younis, South Gaza Strip. *** Local Caption *** The number of people in the Gaza Strip suffering the after-effects of serious injuries has increased in recent years. However, with the embargo currently in effect, it is very difficult to obtain access to appropriate, specialized care. In July 2010, MSF signed an agreement with the Gaza health authorities and opened a reconstructive surgery program.This kind of joint program also provides an opportunity for MSF staff and Gaza doctors to exchange and share medical, surgical and anesthetic techniques, particularly with regard to treating young children.<br/>
© Isabelle Merny/MSF
04

Mobile surgery

Having to provide surgical services where the needs are greatest - but perhaps where there may not be a suitable hospital for hundreds of kilometres - MSF uses several solutions, including an 'inflatable' surgical tent. Sophisticated, portable, but sterile, it can be moved and set up within 48-72 hours in areas of conflict or a region affected by a natural disaster. More recently, our teams have developed the MUST, a mobile operating room in a trailer, which allows teams to move quickly to needed areas.
Dr Rasha Khoury and the surgical team perform a caesarean section to deliver Albertine’s baby. Le Dr Rasha Khoury et l’équipe chirurgicale pratiquent une césarienne pour permettre la naissance du bébé d’Albertine.
Dr Rasha Khoury and the surgical team perform a caesarean section to deliver Albertine’s baby. Katiola, Côte d'Ivoire, March 2017.
© Jean-Christophe Nougaret/MSF
05

Caesarean sections

Our teams delivered over 39,400 babies via caesarean section in 2025, focused on helping mothers with life-threatening pregnancy complications. Caesarean sections are performed on women suffering from pre-eclampsia (pregnancy-related high blood pressure), obstructed labour, or when the baby is in breech position (feet down).
Gaza le 16 mai 2018, centre post opératoire de MSF. Chaque jour des blessés par balle de la grande marche du retour, viennent se faire changer les pansements. Plus de 3600 blessés par balles sont à déplorer depuis le début de la grande marche du retour. Salle d'attente. Gaza on May 16th, 2018, post-operating centers of MSF. Every day the wounded persons by bullet of the big walking of return, come to be made change bandages. More than 3600 wounded persons by bullets are to be regretted since the beginning of the big walking of return. Waiting room.
MSF post-operating centre, Gaza. 
© Laurence Geai
06

Post-operative care

Post-operative care is an essential part of surgery, to prevent and treat infections, monitor how the wound is healing, and avoid complications. Post-operative care is an integral part of our surgical projects. We also provide physiotherapy to enable people to recover as much mobility as possible.

Related topics

Destroyed buildings in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, taken on 26 May 2024
Crisis settings

War and conflict

More than one third of our humanitarian and medical assistance is for people affected by armed conflict.
"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.
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.
Crisis settings

Natural hazards

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.
Rohingya refugees meet up and talk in the streets of the camps. Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, October 2023 © Ro Yassin Abdumonab Des réfugiés rohingyas se rassemblent et discutent dans les camps de Cox’s Bazar. Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, octobre 2023 © Ro Yassin Abdumonab
Crisis settings

Social violence and exclusion

Many people are unable to access healthcare simply because of who they are. They may be afraid to seek help, or are excluded because they are forced to live outside of mainstream societal bounds.
The waiting room in ward 4C where MSF's cervical cancer project is located at Queens Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi.
Medical activities

Women's health

An estimated 99 per cent of women who die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications live in developing countries. Most of these deaths are preventable.
GEORGE ONDIJO IS A LAB TECHNICIAN AT NDIWAH HOSPITAL IN HOMA BAY COUNTY. HE IS IN CHARGE OF SPUTUM COLLECTION FOR TUBERCULOSIS DIAGNOSIS. THE USE OF MASK IS MANDATORY TO AVOID CONTAGION.

Medical Resource

MSF Field Research

We produce important research based on our field experience. So far, we have published articles in over 100 peer-reviewed journals. These articles have often changed clinical practice and have been used for humanitarian advocacy. All of these articles can be found on our dedicated Field Research website.

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