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.
Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, and more; health facilities have been attacked, looted and destroyed.
Patients have been killed in their beds; health workers have been attacked as they rescued the wounded. A hospital is where the most vulnerable, the sick and injured, gather in times of war. Attacks against medical facilities and health workers, whether deliberate or indiscriminate, are part of generalised violence and atrocities committed against civilians in armed conflict. They deprive people of health services, often when they need them the most.
The Continued Struggle to Access Medical Care in Afghanistan
8 Jun 2021
Syria
Everyone is fatigued with the fear and deaths – a doctor in a Damascus suburb
Voices from the Field10 Mar 2016
Syria
The feeling of powerlessness is excruciating, but I cannot abandon my people
Voices from the Field9 Mar 2016
Syria
War-wounded and war-dead in Syria – medical data provides a stark warning that 2015 must not be repeated
Press Release9 Mar 2016
South Sudan
Looming medical crisis in Pibor following devastating violence and looting of MSF medical compound
Press Release4 Mar 2016
South Sudan
Fear, worry but also relief; a week of extraordinary violence and courage in Pibor
Project Update4 Mar 2016
Yemen
Crisis update – 3 March 2016
Crisis Update3 Mar 2016
South Sudan
MSF condemns outrageous attack in UN protection site in Malakal
Press Release2 Mar 2016
Yemen
Practising medicine under fire
Voices from the Field26 Feb 2016
Syria
Our bombs are smarter than yours
Opinion22 Feb 2016
Research & Analysis
Afghanistan
The Continued Struggle to Access Medical Care in Afghanistan
Report8 Jun 2021
Attacks on medical care
MSF President to UN Security Council: “Stop these attacks”
Speech3 May 2016
Attacks on medical care
Kunduz, Afghanistan, 36°43’4.91’’N, 68°51’43.96’’
Opinion10 Nov 2015
Book
Saving Lives and Staying Alive
5 Sep 2016
Book
Journal article
Attacks on medical missions: overview of a polymorphous reality: the case of Médecins Sans Frontières
25 Jun 2014
Journal article
Yemen
MSF releases detailed documentation of attacks on two medical facilities ahead of UNSC closed session on protection of medical mission
Report27 Sep 2016
Syria
MSF urges Syrian government and its allies to stop indiscriminate bombing in Aleppo
Press Release30 Sep 2016
Attacks on medical care
Hospital bombings: Building evidence with images
Project Update15 Feb 2017
Related topics
In Focus
Kunduz hospital attack
On 3 October 2015, US airstrikes destroyed our trauma hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, killing 42 people. Our request for an independent investigation has so far gone unanswered.
Crisis Settings
War and conflict
More than one third of our humanitarian and medical assistance is for people affected by armed conflict.
Middle East & North Africa
Syria
War has been raging in Syria for more than a decade, leaving thousands of people dead, displacing millions and destroying civilian areas and health facilities.
1,191,600
outpatient consultations
65,500
families received relief items
40,200
routine vaccinations
32,600
individual mental health consultations
29,600
people admitted to hospital
13,600
births assisted, including 2,980 caesarean sections
8,370
surgical interventions
Middle East & North Africa
Yemen
Discover how we deliver medical humanitarian assistance in Yemen, where indiscriminate bombings and chronic shortages of supplies and staff have led to the closure of more than half the country's health facilities.
497,200
outpatient consultations
165,200
people admitted to hospital
37,300
births assisted, including 5,160 caesarean sections
26,900
surgical interventions
12,800
patients treated for measles
11,900
children admitted to inpatient feeding programmes
Africa
Central African Republic
Learn about our medical humanitarian work in the Central African Republic, where years of intense violence have resulted in thousands being killed or wounded and millions being displaced, severely restricting access to medical care, food, water and shelter.
725,700
outpatient consultations
10,600
surgical interventions
9,230
people receiving HIV antiretroviral treatment
6,030
people treated for sexual violence
Africa
South Sudan
In South Sudan, MSF delivers one of its largest assistance programmes worldwide. Our teams provide primary and secondary healthcare and run outreach activities for displaced people and remote communities. This includes response to emergencies and outbreaks and preventive activities such as vaccination campaigns.
879,100
outpatient consultations
327,100
malaria cases treated
74,300
people admitted to hospital
65,800
vaccinations against measles in response to an outbreak
