MSF is one of the world's leading independent organisations for medical humanitarian aid, giving quality medical care to people caught in crisis regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation. Every day, more than 30,000 MSF field staff provide assistance around the world to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care or natural disasters.

In 2014, MSF carried out over 8 million outpatient consultations and dealt with over 511,000 inpatients. MSF teams had 230,000 HIV/AIDS patients under care, vaccinated 1.5 million people against measles or meningitis, treated more than 2 million people for malaria, and 218,000 million children against severe malnutrition.  There were 194,000 deliveries including caesarean sections, 186,000 mental health individual consultations and 82,000 major surgical interventions. In addition to all of this, MSF admitted more than 7,000 people to Ebola management centres.

Formed in 1971, by a group of doctors and journalists aiming to establish an independent organisation focused on emergency medicine and speaking out about the cause of human suffering, MSF's work is based on the humanitarian principles of medical ethics and remains committed to bearing witness and speaking out.

MSF has 21 main national offices and 10 specialised organisations, which take charge of specific activities, such as humanitarian relief supplies. MSF has 384 projects in 63 countries. There are five 'operational centres' which directly control field projects, deciding when, where and what aid is necessary and when to end a programme. The primary functions of the remaining offices are to recruit volunteers, raise funds and advocate on behalf of populations in danger to maintain MSF's financial independence.

MSF field staff includes doctors, nurses, administrators, epidemiologists, laboratory technicians, mental health professionals, logistics and water and sanitation experts. The majority of our teams are made up of national field staff from the countries where the crises are occurring with ten percent made up of international field staff. All of MSF's members agree to honour the principles set out in the MSF Charter.