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About us

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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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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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

A Global Network
Our offices around the world
Our offices around the world
Other Sites
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MSF Association

Our staff “own” and manage MSF, making sure that we stay true to our mission and principles, through the MSF Associations.

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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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Patient blogs

Hear directly from the inspirational people we help as they talk about their experiences dealing with often neglected, life-threatening diseases.

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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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Southern Africa Medical Unit

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.

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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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Manson Unit

The Manson Unit is a London, UK-based team of medical specialists who provide medical and technical support, and conduct research for MSF.

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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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After the floods in Iran, providing health care to the vulnerable populations in Lorestan

Iran

War in Gaza:: find out how we're responding
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MSF provides free healthcare to excluded and marginalised people in south Tehran, including drug users, sex workers, street children, the Ghorbat ethnic minority and Afghan refugees in eastern Iran.

In Darvazeh Ghar district, we run a clinic offering a comprehensive package of medical services designed for high-risk patients who suffer from stigma and/or need help to follow their treatment.

Services include counselling and support from peer workers, psychosocial aid, medical and mental health consultations, ante- and postnatal care, family planning and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Patients can also be tested for communicable diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis C. 

We also operate a referral system, and run mobile clinics in partnership with a local organisation called Society for Recovery Support.  

In Mashhad, in the eastern part of the country, we provide primary healthcare and mental health services to Afghan refugees who fled the decades-long conflict in their homeland and are largely excluded from access to medical care. 

Our activities in 2023 in Iran

Data and information from the International Activity Report 2023.

116

116

Staff in 2023 (full-time equivalent)

€4.4 M

4.4M

Expenditure in 2023

1990

199

Year MSF first worked in the country
MSF in Iran in 2023 In Iran, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) assists Afghan refugees, people who use drugs, people who engage in sex work, people who are homeless, and other marginalised groups who often face barriers when seeking healthcare.
Iran IAR map 2023

Iran currently hosts the second-largest refugee population in the world, the majority of whom come from Afghanistan*.  Approximately 750,000 Afghan refugees are officially registered in Iran, but according to a 2022 government-led headcount, there are at least 2.6 million living in the country, mostly undocumented**.

Although most of them live in urban settings, refugees experience difficulties in accessing medical services due to stigma and exclusion. They, and other marginalised groups, such as people who are homeless and people who use drugs, are especially susceptible to contracting communicable diseases such as tuberculosis (TB), hepatitis C, HIV, and illnesses linked to poor living conditions.

In South Tehran, we run a range of medical services through a health facility located in the Darvazeh Ghar neighbourhood and through mobile clinics. Our teams offer general healthcare, nursing care, mental health support, and treatment and referrals for hepatitis C and B, HIV, syphilis, and TB. We also provide midwifery services, and ante- and postnatal care.

In Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, located near the border with Afghanistan, we continue to run mobile clinics, conducting medical consultations and screening for infectious diseases. We also provide counselling, social support, health education, and referrals to specialist health facilities through our clinic in Golshahr district, where most of the Afghans in the city have settled.  

In addition, we offer mental health support and treatment for hepatitis C to people who use drugs in rehabilitation centres in Torbat-e Jam’s ‘Guest City’, a government-run refugee settlement in Razavi Khorasan province.

Further south, in Kerman city, we are rehabilitating three health facilities, where we plan to run basic healthcare services for newly arrived and unregistered Afghan refugees.

*https://www.unhcr.org/ir/2023/06/14/iran-becomes-the-second-largest-refugee-hosting-country-as-forced-displacement-hits-new-record-high-globally/

**https://www.unhcr.org/ir/refugees-in-iran/

In 2023

65,200

65,2

outpatient consultations

6,430

6,43

individual mental health consultations

430

43

people started on treatment for hepatitis C
 
MSF Health facility, Darvazeh Ghar district, south of the Grand Bazaar of Tehran.
Iran

Surviving in Tehran’s southern neighborhoods

Project Update 21 Jun 2013
 
Iran

MSF forced to leave Zahedan

Statement 30 Sep 2011
 
Iran

Worrying situation for Afghans in Iran

Project Update 30 Jul 2008
 
Iran

Specialised equipment and teams sent to treat post-quake 'crush' victims

Project Update 30 Dec 2003
 
Iran

MSF rushes emergency relief teams and materials to Iran

Press Release 27 Dec 2003
 
Afghanistan

MSF asks that Iranian authorities remove obstacles to aid operations in Afghanistan

Press Release 5 Dec 2001