MSF History
Since 1971, MSF has grown from a group of a few hundred volunteers to an international movement of more than 68,000 staff, providing more than 16 million medical consultations in over 70 countries every year. But the core values of independence, neutrality, and impartiality continue to drive our work.
1971: The beginning of MSF
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) was founded by a group of French doctors and journalists in the wake of the war and accompanying famine in Biafra (a territory now within Nigeria) and the floods in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). MSF was founded on the belief that all people should have access to healthcare regardless of gender, race, religion, creed or political affiliation.
1972: MSF’s first mission
MSF’s first mission in 1972, was in Managua, Nicaragua's capital, and followed an earthquake which destroyed most of the city and killed between 10,000 and 30,000 people.
1975: First large-scale response to refuge crisis
As Cambodians fled the Khmer Rouge, MSF teams provided medical care for those seeking sanctuary from Pol Pot’s oppressive rule. This response was our first large-scale medical program during a refugee crisis.
1976: First intervention in a war zone
The war in Lebanon marked the first time our teams set up a major intervention in a war zone. From 1976 until 1984, MSF treated people wounded in the civil war in Lebanon.
1980: First international appeal
A first témoignage,or speaking out event, on the international scene was organised with the "March for Survival of Cambodia" a protest against the Vietnamese authorities stopping our teams from bringing aid into Cambodia.
1980: Conflict in Afghanistan
Following the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan in the final days of 1979—triggering a war that would last a decade—MSF medical teams clandestinely cross the Pakistani–Afghan border and travel by mule for several weeks to reach injured civilians living in remote areas.
1984: The Ethiopian famine
Ongoing drought and food shortages lead to famine in Ethiopia. MSF provided aid to those suffering malnutrition and affected by the ongoing drought and spoke out against the Ethiopian government’s practices of forced resettlement. This stand resulted in some MSF teams being forcibly removed from the country in 1985, but we continued to work with Ethiopian refugees in neighbouring Sudan.