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.
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.
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.
Nearly 40,000 people affected by floods in Bolivia
Press Release15 January 2004
"The affected population is living in precarious conditions," stated Silvia Moriana, MSF head of mission in Bolivia. "Shelters need reinforcements and some thinking should be done concerning the families who will soon return to their now still flooded homes. Under the present circumstances, the area must also face the fact that the rainy season has just started and will last until April."
Trinidad (Bolivia)/Barcelona - About 12,000 people are in need of urgent assistance after torrential rains flooded the town of Trinidad, capital of the Beni Province (Bolivia) on January 9, according to the international medical humanitarian organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
The floods have affected more than half of the population in the town, nearly 40,000 people, of whom over 2,000 families (about 12,000 people according to official estimates), mostly women and children, have been evacuated. The local authorities have set up centres and tents, all in all about 30 sites.
The number of people sheltered varies according to the site; in some of them, crowding has become a real problem. There is great concern due to the lack of drinking clean water and sanitation facilities in some communities and shelters, in addition to the shortage of medicines in the existing health structures.
The precariousness of the situation also touches the families living in the affected neighbourhoods, who have refused to leave their homes and go to the shelters fearing the looting of their homes in their absence. "The affected population is living in precarious conditions," stated Silvia Moriana, MSF head of mission in Bolivia.
"Shelters need reinforcements and some thinking should be done concerning the families who will soon return to their now still flooded homes.
Under the present circumstances, the area must also face the fact that the rainy season has just started and will last until April." After a first assessment of the situation, MSF is working in the affected area, providing assistance, such as water and sanitation-related activities, to the people evacuated living in shelters.
Medicines have also been donated. In addition, the team is working closely with local health authorities to strengthen the epidemiological surveillance network, as the risk of epidemic outbreaks of diseases such as dengue fever is high. Not only is there a need for medicines but also for an appropriate management of the medical assistance rendered.
Currently, the presence of other organisations in the area is hardly evident. The Trinidad Emergency Committee, made up of several institutions and organisations, has covered the most basic needs within the extent of its possibilities. However, the Committee has requested support as it lacks the capacity and the budget to adequately deal with the situation.
