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 Mexican territories, they are systematically exposed to further episodes of violence. This year, more than 15,000 migrants and refugees from Central America were registered in the shelters where MSF works, and 2,700 participated in psychoeducational sessions or psychosocial activities.Over 2,200 medical and 690 mental health consultations were carried out in Ixtepec, Tenosique and Celaya. In the MSF integral care centre in Mexico City, teams provided medical and psychological support to 63 victims of inhumane treatment.

In Acapulco, MSF offered mental healthcare to 480 victims of violence and carried out over 2,340 mental health consultations in Colonia Jardín.

In Tierra Caliente, Guerrero state, rural health posts were closed due to violence. MSF provided emergency obstetric services, including caesarean sections, in Arcelia hospital and started to run mobile clinics in San Miguel Totolapan and General Heliodoro Castillo municipalities towards the end of the year.

The Chagas project based in San Pedro Pochutla, Oaxaca, was closed in April 2016, and activities were handed over to the Ministry of Health.

Following a confrontation between groups of teachers and state security forces in July, MSF visited the community of Nochixtlan, Oaxaca. The team treated the wounded and offered mental health consultations to the families of the deceased and missing.

MSF has been running a project in Reynosa focused on improving emergency care in the general hospital since 2014. In September, MSF handed it over to the Ministry of Health, but has set up a new project providing medical and mental healthcare for victims of violence.