Medical issues

Abortion

Unsafe abortion is one of the main causes of maternal death globally, and the only one that is almost entirely preventable.

Access to medicines

Today, one fourth of the world's population lacks access to essential medicines. In the poorest parts of Africa and Asia this figure rises to half of the population.

Cassandre Saint-Hubert MSF nurse (from Haiti) treats a patient at a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) mobile clinic in the village of Nan Sevre, in the mountains north of Port-à-Piment.

Antimicrobial resistance

Resistance to antimicrobial medicines, such as antibiotics, has become a global health crisis, complicating the treatment of bacterial infections and endangering lives around the world.

Dr Wardak Abdul Qayoum assists the expat microbiologist in supervising the team and carrying out isolation, identification and sensitivity testing of the 3000 bacterial strains expected. He uses a plastic loop to take a colony of bacteria from the culture plate.

Cholera

Cholera is preventable and easily treated, yet it infects millions of people each year and causes up to 143,000 deaths worldwide.

COVID-19

MSF works around the world to combat COVID-19 and adapt our programs so we can continue safely providing essential care.

COVID-19 response in Intensive care unit of HUG

Diabetes

An estimated 422 million people around the world have diabetes. The majority are in low- and middle-income countries, where access to affordable treatment is extremely limited—putting lives on the line.

A young girl in a red headscarf injects insulin in Kenya.

Ebola

Ebola is rare but deadly, spreading fear and panic. Caring for infected patients and affected communities is crucial for a response to be effective.

An MSF health worker carries a child suspected of having Ebola.

HIV/AIDS

Nearly 700,000 people died from HIV-related causes, while 1.5 million people became newly infected with the HIV virus in 2020.

Kala azar

Kala azar, or visceral leishmaniasis, is the second deadliest parasitic disease in the world—only malaria kills more people.

Malaria

Malaria is the world’s most deadly parasite, killing hundreds of thousands each year—the vast majority in Africa.

Malnutrition

More than 232 million children around the world last year suffered from malnutrition. It is the underlying contributing factor in nearly half of the deaths of children under five years of age.

Maternal health

An estimated 99 percent of women who die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications live in developing countries. Most of these deaths are preventable.

Measles

Measles remains a leading killer of young children in parts of the world, even though an effective, low-cost vaccine has been available for decades.

MSF staff member gives a measles vaccination to a young girl

Meningitis

Meningococcal meningitis is a highly contagious bacterial from of meningitis—a serious inflammation of the meninges—the thin lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.

MSF staff provides comfort while a child receives meningitis vaccination

Mental health

Where we work, we may see people with a mental illness or confronting distressing situations, such as violence, loss, or displacement. Mental health support can be crucial to help people cope.

Social psychologists from MSF work with children and adolescents in Mexico in 2018.

Mpox

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a contagious viral disease that can be especially serious for children, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems. Increased access to vaccines is critical to prevent its spread.

Health promoters raise awareness about Mpox in DRC.

Obstetric fistulas

Obstetric fistula is a preventable but devastating injury that can affect women living in poor, remote areas without access to skilled maternal care.

Sexual and gender-based violence

Sexual violence is a medical emergency, but there is often a dire lack of health care services for victims.

An MSF medical worker works to establish trust with a survivor of sexual violence.

Sleeping sickness

This neglected tropical disease, also known as Human African trypanosomiasis, puts 65 million people at risk across sub-Saharan Africa.

Lab technicians, who are part of a mobile HAT Team in the Democratic Republic of Congo, execute the second step of a test for sleeping sickness.

Snakebite

This hidden health crisis affects at least 2.7 million people each year.

Aguek Deng, a snakebite patient in the post-op ward

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is the world’s leading infectious disease killer, accounting for 1.5 million deaths worldwide each year.

Primrose and her child Panashe as doctors confirm the seven-year-old boy is suffering from TB.

Vaccination

Vaccines are one of the most effective public health interventions available, but at least 1.5 million children still die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases.