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Who We Are

Learn about our mission, our charter and principles, and who we are.

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How we work

See what triggers an intervention and how supply and logistics allow our teams to respond quickly.

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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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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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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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Access Campaign

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.

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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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Waiting for monsoon season in Cox´s Bazar

A year in pictures 2018

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  • A year in pictures 2018
Photo Story20 December 2018

A picture is worth a thousand words

Our teams continued to provide lifesaving and life-changing medical care in over 70 countries around the world in 2018.

Photojournalists and staff photographers were there beside them – bearing witness to and capturing the work of our dedicated teams, and the stories of the individuals and communities they assist.

Whether caught in or fleeing conflict and violence, affected by disease or epidemics, or hit by natural disasters, our patients each have their own unique story to tell. Stories of suffering and vulnerability, bravery and resilience. These pictures of the year (taken between November 2017 and December 2018) showcase a select few.

July 2018, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh: Rohingya refugees queue for a food distribution in Shofiullah Kata Camp, in the Moynargona area of Cox’s Bazar.
Kate Geraghty/Fairfax Media
Waiting for monsoon season in Cox´s Bazar
April 2018, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh: Halima and her mother wait in the rain for a distribution of food in Jatmoli makeshift settlement.
Pablo Tosco/Angular
Waiting for monsoon season in Cox´s Bazar
April 2018, Cox´s Bazar, Bangladesh: Rozia and her two-month-old son Zubair in the MSF hospital in Goyalmara. Many of the children admitted to the hospital have contracted infections from unhygienic birthing practices, and the unsanitary living conditions in the camp during their first days of life.
Pablo Tosco/Angular
Mobile Clinics in Akobo and Kier : providing access to basic healthcare in remote areas
December 2017, Kier, South Sudan: Young women gathered in a disused health facility that lies in ruins, waiting to see the medical officer from MSF’s mobile clinic.
Frederic NOY/COSMOS
Old Fangak Stories
December 2017, Old Fangak, South Sudan: A pharmacist gives a young patient his prescription through a small window cut into the tarpaulin facade of the hospital pharmacy
Frederic NOY/COSMOS
Ebola outbreak - Bunia
November 2018, Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo: A health worker checks his personal protective equipment before entering the red zone of the MSF-supported Ebola treatment centre to check on the patients there.
John Wessels
Ebola outbreak - Bunia
November 2018, Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo: Health workers hug each other as they get into their personal protective equipment, ready to enter the red zone of the newly built Ebola treatment centre.
John Wessels
Ebola outbreak - Bunia
A health worker waits to receive a new unconfirmed Ebola patient at the MSF-supported Ebola treatment centre in Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo, November 2018.
John Wessels
Niger - Magaria Paediatric Unit
MSF teams in the stabilisation room administer an intravenous catheter. Niger, September 2018.
Laurence Hoenig/MSF
Diffa, Niger: Young managed touched by the conflict
August 2018, Diffa, Niger: 14-year-old Mohammed and his siblings were kidnapped by an armed group in northern Nigeria and spent several months in captivity before fleeing and being reunited with at least part of their family. Having witnessed several murders, Mohammed started receiving support through MSF’s mental healthcare project in Diffa, Niger.
Juan Carlos Tomasi/MSF
No safe haven for Iraq’s displaced
Rasmiyya, 63, raised seven sons and four daughters, and now lives alone in Amriyat Al-Fallujah camp for displaced people. Iraq, October 2018.
Mohammad Ghannam/MSF
Nashwan - war wounded - Mosul
May 2018, East Mosul, Iraq: Nashwan, 42, is prepared for surgery at MSF’s post-operative care facility. He is one of the many war-wounded patients still trying to recover a year after the conflict in Mosul officially ended.
Sacha Myers/MSF
NFI distribution in Mosul's Old City
April 2018, Mosul, Iraq: Mosul’s old town, which experienced intense shelling, aerial bombing and attacks with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) during the battle to retake the city from the Islamic State group in 2016/17. The destruction and the presence of IEDs, unexploded ordinance and booby traps mean that much of the old city remains inaccessible. Nevertheless, between 5,000 and 7,000 people have returned to their homes, in many cases damaged and without water or electricity.
Sacha Myers/MSF
North Yemen: living under daily coalition airstrikes
Children from Haydan pose at the entrance to their home, which was bombed during the battle for Saada between 2004 and 2010. Yemen, March 2018.
Agnes Varraine-Leca/MSF
Access to HealthCare in Saada and Amran governorates
March 2018, Khamer, Yemen: MSF physiotherapist Elizabeth carries out physiotherapy on a young patient in surgery to reduce their pain.
Agnes Varraine-Leca/MSF
MSF bio lab at MSF’s Aden hospital
December 2017, Aden, Yemen: 10-year-old Aya lost her leg after an armed group threw a bomb at her family’s home. “I always feel enthusiastic when my mom tells me we’re going to the physio session. I’m stronger than I was after the surgery. I go to the mini market by myself and I play in front of the house,” Aya says.
Ehab Zawati/MSF
No safe haven for Iraq’s displaced
Haussian, a 13-year-old boy from Fallujah, Iraq plays with an old bicycle, October 2018. Haussian and his family have lived in a tent in Amriyat Al-Fallujah camp for the past three years.
Mohammad Ghannam/MSF
Aquarius Rescue 23rd September
September 2018, Mediterranean Sea: After a long, complicated search and rescue operation, and negotiations with the Libyan coastguard, the Aquarius has safely brought 47 people on board, including 17 minors and one pregnant woman, rescued from a wooden boat in distress in international waters.
Maud Veith/SOSMéditerranée
99 Survivors Rescued Sinking in Mediterranean Sea - Many Presumed Drowned
January 2018, Mediterranean Sea: In a nightmarish day on the Mediterranean, 99 survivors from a sinking rubber boat were rescued by the Aquarius, but an unknown number of men, women and children remained missing, presumed drowned. Two women are confirmed dead.
Laurin Schmid/SOS MEDITERRANEE
Aquarius Search and Rescue Dec - Jan 2017
January 2018, Mediterranean Sea: MSF nurse Aiofe Ni Mhurchu gives anti-sea-sickness pills to one of the 27 people were rescued at sea by a supply boat nearby an oil platform north Sabratah, 55 nautical miles from the Libyan coast. From Sudan, Somalia, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Nigeria, they were on a small wooden boat and spent a long time in Libaa, some of them in Osama detention centre in Zouarah.
Federico Scoppa
Trapped in Moria
May 2018, Lesbos, Greece: Thousands of life jackets left behind by arriving migrants, gathered at a dump on Lesbos Island.
Robin Hammond/Witness Change
Trapped in Moria
July 2018, Lesbos, Greece: Children gathered around a fire in Moria camp. Thousands of people seeking safety from countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, and Congo continue to risk their lives to reach Europe. Those who try to arrive via Turkey and the Aegean Sea have been trapped for an indefinite period of time on islands in Greece as part of the EU/Turkey deal and its deterrence and containment approach.
Robin Hammond/Witness Change
MMR Vaccination in Chios, Greece
October 2018, Chios, Greece: A young child living in VIAL refugee camp waits for vaccinations.
Anna Pantelia/MSF
Bar Elias Hospital
Doctors perform surgery in the operating theatre of a hospital rehabilitated by MSF in Bar Elias. Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, May 2019. 
Joffrey Monnier/MSF
Rome, Comprehensive School Daniele Manin
November 2017, Rome, Italy: A group of women, Italians and refugees and migrants, most from Nigeria, have set up a theatre workshop in a primary school. Their play is based on the story of one of the workshop participants, Patience, who arrived in Italy in 2012 after nearly losing her life and her baby crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
Alessandro Penso/MAPS
VADIM & ALYONA Story: "A year ago we were both in hospital, now we live together. You should not give up on your treatment."
August 2018, Minsk, Belarus: Alyona and Vadim on their way back home from TB Dispensary 2, where they are both outpatients. "A year ago, we were both in hospital; now we live together and we earn our living. That's why you should not give up on your treatment,” Vadim says.
Viviane Dalles
Guerrero (Mexico): Under siege
February 2018, Guerrero, Mexico: A woman displaced by violence sews a sunshade using donated clothes in Apaxtla de Castrejón city, Guerrero state.
Juan Carlos Tomasi/MSF
Migrants and Refugees in Mexico shelters
A man rests in a shelter after receiving foot care. Tenosique, Mexico, February 2018.
Juan Carlos Tomasi/MSF
Treating Burn and Trauma Victims in Haiti
February 2018, Port-au-Prince, Haiti: Shnider Avril, who was severely burned by an explosion from a propane tank, receives care at the MSF Drouillard hospital for burns patients.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Violence hit Paoua region
December 2018, Paoua, Central African Republic: Leonard, a 33-year-old farmer, is treated at Paoua hospital. He says he was shot in the head while armed men were trying to steal his oxen. The day before the attack he had fled Betoko with relatives after the town had been attacked by an armed group.
Alexis Huguet
Snakebites in Paoua
December 2017, Paoua, Central African Republic: Nicsonne, 13, is treated at Paoua hospital after being bitten by a snake while working in the fields in his village, two hours away by motorbike. Snakebite envenoming permanently disables hundreds of thousands of people and kills more than 100,000 each year all across the globe – more than any other neglected tropical disease – even though highly effective treatments exist.
Alexis Huguet
Gaza protest
A wounded demonstrator is evacuated from the throng as tens of thousands gather at the border between Gaza and Israel on 14 May 2018, in the seventh week of protests. More than 1,300 Palestinians were shot and 60 killed at the fence that day, which marked the 70th anniversary of the declaration of the State of Israel and the day the US embassy in Jerusalem was inaugurated.
Laurence Geai
In the aftermath of May 14th
On June 6, 2018, Palestinians hit by Israeli live-fire fire arrive for post-operative care at an MSF clinic in Gaza.
Heidi Levine/Sipa Press
Services in the referral hospital in Ansongo
December 2017, Ansongo, Mali: Mahamadou Agaïri, 40, wears his two-day-old baby 'kangaroo' style - an unprecedented gesture in a place where men don't normally carry babies - while his wife recovers from an obstetric operation she underwent during the delivery at the MSF-supported hospital.
Seydou Camara/MSF
Kasai (Unframed)
March 2018, Kasai Central, Democratic Republic of Congo: Mama Kawala and her two children, who just had a check-up at the local therapeutic nutritional centre in Lwemba.
Léonard Pongo/NOOR
Fighting in Ituri province
March 2018, Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo: Bawma Yoame, 56, recovers in a hospital room in Bunia, after an attack on his village left him severely wounded with multiple lacerations to the head. 
John Wessels
Mbera Camp - Vaccination Campaign
Sand fills the air as a thunderstorm blows into Bassikounou in the Hodh ech Chargui region of Mauritania, August 2018.
Nyani Quarmyne
IDP's camp in Monguno, Maiduguri State, Nigeria.
Internally displaced people find shelter in Monguno, northeast Nigeria, January 2018.
Maro Verli/MSF
Mobile Clinics in Akobo and Kier : providing access to basic healthcare in remote areas
December 2017, Kier, South Sudan: Nurse and midwife Furaha Bazikanya examines a young pregnant woman in one of the two consultation spaces at a mobile clinic in the village.
Frederic NOY/COSMOS
TB in Zhytomyr, Ukraine
Olena Markova, an MSF nurse, explains to 78-year-old Lidiia how to take the hearing test at the Zhytomyr Regional TB Dispensary in Ukraine, October 2018. Certain drugs used in TB treatment can cause severe side-effects, including hearing loss.
Oksana Parafeniuk
TB in Zhytomyr, Ukraine
Mykola, a 31-year-old patient with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), in the common area of Zhytomyr Regional TB Dispensary in Ukraine, October 2018. 
Oksana Parafeniuk
New Balkan migration route through Bosnia
July 2018, Bihać, Bosnia-Herzegovina: Local Red Cross volunteers are now providing some meals to people sheltering in and around the squat at Bihać, Bosnia-Herzegovina, close to the border with Croatia.
Kamila Stepien
Violence in Ituri province forces tens of thousands from their homes
March 2018, Sebagoro, Uganda: Sanitation workers spray the hands and feet of Congolese refugees arriving on the shores of Lake Albert, in a region where cholera is endemic. Approximately 60,000 refugees arrived in Uganda on boat between December 2017 and March 2018, fleeing the conflict in their home province of Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi
CAR reportage with el Mundo
January 2018, Central African Republic: Colette, a 14-year-old victim of sexual violence, at Castors Hospital. She was raped by her uncle and is receiving medical and psychological treatment offered by MSF.
Alberto Rojas
Condemned to drown at sea or be locked up in Libya
September 2018, Libya: A woman in a detention centre: “We were abandoned at sea. People lost hope. Why did we let people die at sea? We are not criminals”.
Sara Creta/MSF
Project 3D prostheses
January 2018, Amman, Jordan: An MSF staff member helps a young patient affected by a congenital disease try out a new 3D prosthesis, thanks to which the girl was able to paint her own nails.
Hussein Amri/MSF