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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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Drug resistant-TB patients cured after two years of treatment

War in Gaza:: find out how we're responding
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Project Update6 February 2009

For over two years in Georgia's Samagrelo region, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been caring for patients suffering from drug resistant tuberculosis.

When this project was opened in November 2006, MSF was the only medical organisation in Georgia providing treatment for such patients. Since then, the ministry of health has opened two other programmes to treat others with resistant forms of TB.

Nine patients finish treatment

TB in its drug resistant form, remains a deadly illness, particularly difficult to treat, notably due to a critical lack of suitable fast diagnostic tests and effective treatments.

In August 2008, the war between Georgia and Russia led to severe concerns concerning the follow-up of patient treatments. However, while the Zugdidi region was bombarded, two-thirds of patients continued to take their treatment daily, which for some meant getting in to the nearest treatment station to their home.

One of the numerous difficult aspects associated with treating this illness is the length of treatment: on average, patients undergo treatment for almost two years. In July 2008, after 20 months of daily medications, the first patient arrived at the end of his treatment protocol. Although it is still too early to officially declare the patient "healed", given the risks of relapsing, just finishing the medication period is in itself an even.

"The patient, a young man, came in one morning", explained Jocelyne Madrilène, head of mission in Georgia. "When we told him we were stopping his treatment and that no future appointments were needed, just a two-monthly follow-up medical check, he couldn't believe it. He came back the next day saying there'd been a mistake, that he was still ill. After two years of daily medicine-taking, patients find it hard to realise that their treatment is finished."

Officially, a patient can be declared healed two years after the end of treatment. In total, nine patients completed their treatment at the beginning of January, 2009.

"These first recoveries are a very satisfying factor for the 93 patients currently undergoing treatment, and also for all the medical staff. For doctors, nurses and all care staff, it's a daily struggle to ensure that patients retain the strength to continue their treatment", continued Madrilène. "The first patients who came to the end of treatment live in Zugdidi, so they have been coming in quite frequently to the hospital to visit in-patients. They give them tips on how to stay the course, and emphasise the need to continue fighting the illness."

At Zugdidi, 153 patients have been admitted into the programme over the last two years. In that time, 14 patients have died, representing approximately ten percent of all patients. This mortality rate is far lower than on many other programmes aimed at countering drug resistant TB. In treatment, often up to a half of patients starting will stop taking their treatment.

Social and economic support essential in helping patients maintain treatment

Essential to ensuring that patients adhere to the treatment is the social and economic support provided by MSF and Georgia's national TB plan. Often isolated and unable to work, patients need daily support: firewood and clothes in winter, proper nutrition, travel costs.

"Thirty per cent of our patients live below the poverty line. If we didn't help them, they would not follow their treatment correctly and certain of them would probably prefer to quit," said Madrilène.

Once patients return home and continue their treatment as outpatients, MSF undertakes rehabilitation of their homes in order to remove risks of transmission of the illness to those they are living with. These measures, combined with follow-up of each patient, are essential factors in preventing interruption of treatments or programme drop-outs.

Throughout 2008, the Zugdidi programme witnessed an intense admission rate averaging six or seven patients a month. The trend is expected to be confirmed over the coming months. However, by the end of March, around ten more patients are expected to reach the end of their treatment.