Core remit
MSF’s core work is providing medical aid in crisis situations - armed conflicts, epidemics, famines and natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes. All these situations call for a rapid response with specialised medical and logistical help.
Projects in more than 60 countries
Every year MSF sends out around 3000 doctors, nurses, logisticians, water-and-sanitation experts, administrators and other professionals to work alongside approximately 25 000 locally hired staff. Together they run medical projects in more than 60 countries around the world. MSF opens and closes a number of individual projects each year, responding to acute crises, monitoring situations as they develop and remaining flexible to the changing needs of patients. A number of projects may be running simultaneously in a single country as needed.
MSF surgeons operate on a patient injured in the conflict in Iraq, Jordan, 2007
Photo by Michael Goldfarb
Beyond the urgency of acute crises, MSF teams also work in situations where the health care system is simply inadequate. MSF provides basic health care and disease prevention in refugee situations, areas of persistent instability or places that are so remote that health care is virtually unheard of. We've pioneered HIV/AIDS treatment in the world's poorest regions and we campaign for fairer access to medicines for the world’s poorest people.
Medical and material aid
Our teams deliver both medical aid (including consultations with a doctor, hospital care, nutritional care, vaccinations, surgery, obstetrics and psychological care) and material aid (food, shelter, blankets etc). When necessary, our teams also repair or construct medical and sanitation facilities.