A psychological consultation carried out by MSF in the Istmina Health Centre, Colombia
© Francesco Zizola for MSF
Mental health is a significant medical issue, especially in places where people suffer violence or are living through emergencies and extreme danger.
In 1998, MSF formally recognised the need to implement mental health and psychosocial interventions as part of our emergency work. Mental health care is also part of services for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, nutrition, sexual violence and during Ebola outbreaks.
Treating severely disturbed people remains a challenge for MSF teams, given the complexity of managing psychiatric drugs and medication. Increasing teams’ capacity to treat these illnesses remains a priority for MSF. Setting up mental health care programmes in emergency situations is not straightforward, especially when violence and trauma is ongoing and no ‘cure’ is therefore possible. Sometimes it is difficult to guarantee continuity of care in unstable and dangerous settings.
In 1990, MSF started its first psychosocial programme in Gaza (Palestine). The programme focused on building people's self-help skills and on addressing the social as well as psychological effects of violence (hence the term 'psychosocial').
In 1994, MSF set up a psychosocial programme in the besieged city of Sarajevo in Bosnia (in the former Yugoslavia), using a community-based approach. Before MSF started its programme, mental healthcare was restricted to the prescription of sedatives. Over four years, MSF treated 15,000 people before handing the project over to another agency once the emergency situation had passed.
MSF teams have offered trauma-related care in over 40 countries around the world, including India (Kashmir, Manipur), Bangladesh, Chechnya, Sudan (Darfur), Colombia, Papua New Guinea, Nepal and Iraq.
In the field, MSF doctors are constantly frustrated by the lack of adequate medical tools. In response, Médecins Sans Frontières set up the MSF Access Campaign in 1999 to improve access to existing medical tools and to stimulate the development of urgently needed better tools. Campaign for Acces to essential medecins.
MSF is well known for its humanitarian medical work, but it has also produced important research based on its field experience with vulnerable populations. This website archives MSF's scientific articles and makes them available free, with full text, and in an easily searchable format. MSF Field Research website.
For 30 years, MSF has directly witnessed the human cost of the lack of drugs for neglected diseases and has raised its voice against this inequity. In 2003, seven organisations from around the world joined forces to establish DNDi, Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative.