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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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War in Gaza:: find out how we're responding
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7464 Results
 
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Meningitis

How meningitis kills

The meningococcus resides in the nose or throat of health carriers - people who do not themselves fall sick because they have a measure of natural or acquired immunity. Project Update - 28 Sep 2000
 
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Diarrhoeal disease

How diarrhoea kills

Diarrhoea causes a person to lose both water and electrolytes. Electrolytes are the salts such as sodium and potassium which are essential to the functioning of every cell in the body. If vomiting accompanies the diarrhoea then these losses are accelerated. Project Update - 28 Sep 2000
 
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Haemorrhagic fevers

How ebola kills

The Ebola virus must hide somewhere between outbreaks, but no-one has yet discovered where - it may be in monkeys or some other animal host, or it may be in healthy human carriers. Once an outbreak does occur the virus is spread from person to person via blood and bodily secretions. Project Update - 28 Sep 2000
 
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Meningitis

How MSF teams treat meningitis patients

Meningitis should be diagnosed by a microscope examination of fluid taken from a patient during a lumbar puncture, which means inserting a needle into the spinal canal low on the back. Project Update - 28 Sep 2000
 
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Pneumonia

How pneumonia kills

Often pneumonia starts as a simple cold which goes down onto the chest. There, the virus causes inflammation of the lung tissue, and this allows any bacteria that are there to get past the local immune defences and set up a secondary infection. Project Update - 28 Sep 2000
 
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Pneumonia

How MSF teams treat pneumonia patients

MSF nurses teach the mothers how to perform simple chest physiotherapy on their children. Project Update - 28 Sep 2000
 
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Tuberculosis

How TB kills

It is estimated that up to one third of the world's population may be infected with the tubercule bacillus. Most of these people, however, do not have active TB. Their infection is latent, and may remain so for their whole life, not causing any symptoms. Project Update - 28 Sep 2000
 
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Tuberculosis

How MSF teams treat TB patients

TB is difficult to treat. There is no single antibiotic that is capable of killing all the tubercle bacilli in a person's body. Apart from being hardy, TB germs can also develop resistance to drugs used against it. The only effective method is to use several different drugs combined together over a long period of time - usually a minimum of six months. Project Update - 28 Sep 2000
 
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Malaria

How malaria kills

The Anopheles mosquito breeds in fresh water like ponds, puddles or slow-moving streams. So malaria tends to occur during the wet season. The female mosquito needs a blood feed in order to nourish her own eggs. Project Update - 28 Sep 2000
 
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Malaria

How MSF teams treat malaria patients

The most dangerous form of malaria, the one caused by falciparum parasites, tends over time to develop resistance to antimalarial drugs.In a new emergency situation MSF teams will collaborate with local health authorities in determining which drugs are most appropriate for treating cases Project Update - 28 Sep 2000
Cholera intervention in South Kivu
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Independent medical humanitarian assistance

We provide medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. Our teams are made up of tens of thousands of health professionals, logistic and administrative staff - most of them hired locally. Our actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of independence and impartiality. We are a non-profit, self-governed, member-based organisation.

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