About Us

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is an international, independent medical humanitarian organisation. Every day, our teams deliver emergency medical aid to people in crisis, with humanitarian projects in more than 70 countries.

Who We Are

We are Médecins Sans Frontières

Our teams act fast to provide medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. MSF is made up of tens of thousands of health professionals, logistic and administrative staff, bound together by our charter and our commitment to providing essential healthcare to those in need, regardless of race, gender, or religion. 

MSF was founded in 1971 by a group of journalists and doctors. Today we are a worldwide movement of nearly 68,000 people.

We are a global movement

Our actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality.  We are a worldwide, non-profit organisation, that operates on self-governance principles.

Providing quality care

At MSF, we reject the idea that resource-limited countries deserve third-rate medical services. We are committed to providing high-quality care to patients and we advocate for affordable, high-quality medicines.

Support from people, not political interests

We rely on the generous support of more than seven million individual donors worldwide. Over 97 per cent of our funds comes from private donations, freeing us from any political affiliations and allowing us to act quickly to save lives.

Stronger together

Our strength lies in our staff. With nearly 50,000 staff worldwide—from health workers to logisticians, surgeons to administrative staff, we’re able to respond quickly to emergencies because of the broad network of committed individuals that make up the MSF global movement. In 2022 we employed over 40,000 locally hired staff who worked together with internationally mobile staff, of which 129 were from Australia and New Zealand.

Ukraine

MSF staff assist a patient at Kostyantynivka hospital, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. | February 2023 © Colin Delfosse 

About MSF in Australia and New Zealand

The Médecins Sans Frontières Australia office was set up in 1994. Every year Médecins Sans Frontières Australia supports more than 100 Australian and New Zealand professionals to work in international medical-humanitarian projects.

Médecins Sans Frontières New Zealand was established in 2017 as a result of strong existing support in New Zealand for our work providing urgent medical assistance around the world to those who need it most. 

Our impact

Impact

Our mission

As a self-governed organisation, MSF is run by a private, international Association. The Association is made up mainly of doctors and health sector workers and is also open to all other professions which might help in achieving its aims. You can read our charter here.

Our principles

Our actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of independence, neutrality and impartiality.

Our history

MSF was created in 1971 in France by doctors and journalists in the belief that all people should have access to healthcare regardless of gender, race, religion, creed or political affiliation, and that people’s medical needs outweigh respect for national boundaries. From its beginnings, those who make up MSF have been committed to témoignage, or bearing witness—the act of raising awareness about what we see. 

What we do

Médecins Sans Frontières brings medical humanitarian assistance to those affected by conflict, disasters, epidemics or exclusion from healthcare.

Our finances

When it comes to raising and spending funds, we employ the same principles of transparency and accountability that guide all of our work.