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.
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.
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.
Snakebite is a hidden health crisis. Every year, an estimated 2.7 million people are bitten by venomous snakes, resulting in death for more than 100,000 people and life-long disfigurement and disability for 400,000 more.
Snakebite has always been low on the public health agenda at national and international levels. More than 20,000 people die from snakebites each year in sub-Saharan Africa alone, where we treat several thousand victims of snakebite every year and witness the devastating impact of snakebites on victims, their families and communities in many of the places we work. Access to proper treatment is limited, with quality antivenoms costing several times the yearly salary of a farmer in South Sudan, for example - a population that is particularly affected.
video
Snakebites in South Sudan (ENG)
Snakebites in South Sudan
MSF treats many victims of snakebite in South Sudan. But a lack of availability of suitable antivenoms has made patient care challenging. In February 2017, MSF sent a herpetologist (someone who specialises in the study of reptiles) to South Sudan to identify the different snake species.
Related topics
Medical activities
Neglected diseases
MSF teams treat a number of neglected diseases, including noma, Chagas, cutaneous leishmaniasis, in projects across the world.
Crisis Settings
Access to medicines
Unaffordable, unavailable, not adapted - people around the world face these challenges in accessing lifesaving medicines.
Africa
South Sudan
In South Sudan, MSF delivers one of its largest assistance programmes worldwide. Our teams provide primary and secondary healthcare and run outreach activities for displaced people and remote communities. This includes response to emergencies and outbreaks and preventive activities such as vaccination campaigns.
879,100
outpatient consultations
327,100
malaria cases treated
74,300
people admitted to hospital
65,800
vaccinations against measles in response to an outbreak
14,100
births assisted
10,300
surgical interventions
5,570
children admitted to inpatient feeding programmes
5,380
people treated for intentional physical violence
2,530
people treated for sexual violence
Ethiopia
Two decades of combatting the world’s most neglected diseases
Project Update26 Sep 2023
Snakebite
Why rapid treatment is essential after a snakebite
Medium.16 Sep 2022
Neglected diseases
Overcoming neglect: Finding ways to manage and control NTDs
Report26 Jan 2021
Snakebite
WHO launches strategy to cut snakebite deaths and disabilities in half
Press Release23 May 2019
Snakebite
Antivenom, not frogs, needed to cure snakebite
Project Update21 May 2019
Snakebite
“The first ten minutes are critical”: treating snakebite in Ethiopia
Voices from the Field14 Feb 2019
Research & Analysis
Snakebite
Time to strike back at snakebite and end the antivenom access crisis
Report19 Sep 2018
Snakebite
Snakebite: How a public health emergency slithered under the radar
