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.
New Kenya project affirms commitment to AIDS treatment
Press Release6 August 2003
Busia - Kenyan Health Minister Charity Ngilu is expected to travel to Busia today (August 6) to open a new anti-retroviral (ARV) programme for AIDS patients in the district. The new programme has been set up by the Ministry of Health in cooperation with the international humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Other speakers at the opening ceremony will be the Busia District Commissioner, the Busia District Medical Officer, the Mayor of Busia Township, the Busia hospital director, as well as the Head of Mission for MSF. A school drama group will perform a new educational drama piece that will be performed in schools to sensitize pupils about treatment for AIDS.
The ARV Treatment programme is part of the Kenya government's and MSF's stated commitment to increase the availability of ARV treatment to those AIDS patients who are in need of it. These drugs have proven successful in slowing down the effects of AIDS, sometimes to the extent of virtually taking away the effects of the disease.
After opening ARV treatment projects in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in Homa Bay and Nairobi earlier, MSF has now undertaken a similar ARV programme in Busia District. The district, that straddles the border between Kenya and Uganda, is estimated to have a high HIV/AIDS prevalence, with official figures varying between 22% (2000) and 34% (1999).
The programme will enroll selected patients from Busia district for free. The enrolled patients have to live in Busia district and are selected along medical and social criteria. In addition, patients will have to prove strict adherence to the treatment protocol. With limited financial and human resources, the programme will focus on those patients who are most in risk of dying.
Since 2000, MSF has run an HIV/AIDS programme in Busia. The organisation works in cooperation with the Ministry of Health in the District Hospital and with community organizations in Busia town. Prior to the new ARV-treatment programme, activities included the running of a VCT centre, treatment of opportunistic infections, home-based care for AIDS patients, prevention of mother-to-unborn-child infection, and education in schools as to prevention of HIV/AIDS.
During an MSF-organized symposium on ARV treatment in April this year in Nairobi, the Government publicly announced target figures for ARV treatment in Kenya, stating it would strive to treat 20% of the AIDS patients in need of ARV treatment by 2005, and 50-60% of those in need by 2008.
MSF believes that it is high time to speed up AIDS treatment in Africa, especially with ARVs. In rich countries, these drugs are available to all AIDS patients who need them, and their success has significantly enhanced the lives of these patients, and lowered the numbers of deaths due to AIDS. In Africa, where the proportions of the epidemic are much higher, widespread use of ARV treatment can make a huge difference.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known in Kenya as "Madaktari wasio na Mipaka" is a medical non-governmental organization that works worldwide to assist people in need of emergency medical assistance. MSF is active in over 80 countries where natural or man-made disasters like earthquakes or war have broken down existing health structures and where medical assistance is badly needed.
