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.
Until recently, an estimated 500,000 people fled extreme violence and poverty every year in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, heading north through Mexico to find safety.
In the past two years, our teams have witnessed an expansion of the migratory route to incorporate hundreds of thousands of people who have traversed the dangerous Darién Gap - the tropical forest that acts as a natural border between Colombia and Panama. They then travel through Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and the whole Central American region, with the aim to reach Mexico and the US.
Migrants in the region face multiple constraints in accessing basic goods, humanitarian, medical assistance and protection, as well as administrative barriers that make the journey even more difficult. In addition, many experience various forms of violence along the route.
MSF provides medical-humanitarian care to those who need it most, regardless of their nationality or legal status, in different countries and locations from Panama to the northern border of Mexico.
Emergency healthcare and protection needed as more people cross to Panama
Press Release19 May 2022
Featured
Mexico
More assistance urgently needed for people arriving in Mexico’s northern border cities
11 Jul 2022
Central American migration
US and Mexico asylum policies leave migrants in deplorable and dangerous conditions
Press Release9 Sep 2021
Central American migration
Robbed, raped, beaten: safe migration routes urgently needed between Colombia and Panama
Press Release9 Jun 2021
Central American migration
Escaping violence into danger – no way out for Central American migrants
Press Release11 Feb 2020
Neither dangers nor policies deter migrants making their way to the US
The number of people migrating north through Central America continue to grow despite restrictive policies, dangers en route and violence. MSF teams are working across the region to provide care to people.
Panama
MSF resumes activities in Darién Gap
Project Update22 Oct 2024
United States of America
Supporting local groups helping people on the move at the US-Mexico border
Project Update9 Aug 2024
Costa Rica
Survivors of sexual violence in the Darién Gap receive care in Costa Rica
Press Release31 May 2024
Central American migration
Migrants in Central America and Mexico face violence and abuse
Press Release27 May 2024
Mexico
Violence, desperation and abandonment on the Central American migration route
Report24 May 2024
Panama
MSF forced to suspend medical care for people on the move in Panama
Press Release7 Mar 2024
Central American migration
Lack of action sees sharp rise in sexual violence on people transiting Darien Gap
Press Release29 Feb 2024
Central American migration
Migrants left without protection as Darién Gap crossings reach half a million
Project Update30 Nov 2023
Panama
Incidents of sexual violence spike for those crossing Panama’s Darién Gap
Press Release17 Nov 2023
Related topics
The Americas
Mexico
Every year, an estimated 400,000 people flee violence and poverty in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala and enter Mexico with the hope of reaching the United States. In Mexico, they are systematically exposed to further episodes of violence.
93,700
outpatient consultations
11,200
individual mental health consultations
5,570
consultations for contraceptive services
77
victims of torture treated
The Americas
El Salvador
MSF has worked in El Salvador to provide healthcare to communities affected by growing violence and insecurity and to respond to outbreaks such as COVID-19.
The Americas
Honduras
Honduras has experienced years of political, economic and social instability, and has one of the highest rates of violence in the world. This has great medical, psychological and social consequences for people.
35,200
outpatient consultations
7,930
individual mental health consultations
350
people treated for sexual violence
The Americas
Guatemala
MSF first worked in Guatemala in 1984 and closed our projects in 2012, before returning in 2020 to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
