Emergency response

Natural disasters like earthquakes, extreme weather, and flooding can strike anywhere, at any time, with little or no warning. In a matter of minutes, these events can cause widespread devastation: Displacing thousands of people, destroying local infrastructure, and compounding existing humanitarian crises like conflict and outbreaks of infectious diseases. In 2023, MSF was one of the first humanitarian organizations on the ground providing disaster aid following a series of deadly earthquakes in northeastern Syria.

Infectious diseases like malaria, cholera, and Ebola can spread quickly throughout a community and start killing within days if immediate action isn’t taken to contain and control the spread. Like many of the humanitarian emergencies we respond to, disease outbreaks often impact already-vulnerable communities, and only compounds on other crises like conflict, natural disasters, and economic/political upheaval. In 2022, MSF was instrumental in Uganda’s emergency medical response to its seventeenth outbreak of Ebola. We built and ran treatment facilities in Mubende and Madudu, where we provided treatment and health promotion and ran contact tracing.

Nearly a quarter of MSF's humanitarian projects are dedicated to assisting people living in conflict. Conflict can cause severe physical and mental trauma, disrupt local infrastructure, and displace hundreds of thousands of people at a time. People unable to escape conflict zones are forced to endure unimaginable violence with virtually no access to health care. In Syria, over 12 years of conflict have left millions of people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. MSF operates in Syria where we can, but ongoing insecurity and access constraints continue to severely limit our ability to provide medical aid that matches the scale of the needs.

Right now, millions of people around the world are effectively cut off from lifesaving medical care and services. In places like Yemen, health care infrastructure has collapsed after years of civil war. In other places, such as Amazonas state in Brazil, people with the most need live in remote, hard-to-reach areas that are removed from the nearest health facility by several days worth of travel. In both cases and in over 70 countries around the world, MSF is prepared to deliver care directly where it’s needed by any means possible.

Our first priority during—or in the immediate aftermath of—a humanitarian crisis is reaching people in distress and getting them stabilized. This includes deploying mobile clinics and setting up field hospitals on the ground to retrieve patients with traumatic injuries, conduct emergency surgery (if necessary), and provide safe transport to facilities that can provide more comprehensive treatment. This process applies to mental trauma as well as physical, with mental health staff on site or nearby to receive people in immediate need of psychological aid.

Our global logistical network allows our teams on the ground to quickly adapt their current medical operations to meet new needs. During violent conflicts we can expand ER capacity by repurposing existing facilities and setting up temporary medical tents. MSF crisis solutions include portable, sterile surgical tents, which can be set up within 48-72 hours in areas affected by conflict or a natural disaster, and a mobile unit surgical trailer (MUST) developed by MSF teams that can be set up on the front lines and packed up if fighting gets too close.

In the aftermath of the Türkiye-Syria earthquakes, MSF teams that had been present in northwest Syria for more than a decade were able to immediately shift their work to emergency response. Some of the humanitarian aid that reached survivors in the days after the quakes was from pre-planned deliveries scheduled as part of our work already in place on the ground.

About 90 percent of MSF staff members are locally hired and come from the communities they serve. Many MSF staff members are directly impacted by the medical issues we treat, which means they are uniquely equipped to understand and tend to the needs of people we see.

We are invested in training and developing advanced skills for our locally hired MSF staff in areas that range from patient care and logistics to supply and transport. For example, the MSF Academy for Healthcare, founded in 2017, offers professional development for health workers recruited locally through a curriculum that is designed to strengthen local health systems and human resources.

Clean water and proper sanitation are essential resources for all people, everywhere—but it’s especially important for people living in precarious settings like displacement camps, conflict zones, overcrowded cities and poor, remote villages.

Water treatment and distribution are a priority to MSF disaster response teams, as the consumption of untreated water and limited access to hygiene services create dangerous conditions for the spread of diseases like cholera. In 2023, MSF teams dramatically increased access to drinking water at displacement camps in North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo, by installing a water treatment plant, pipeline network and more latrines and showers. Within months, the new water infrastructure contributed to a drastic drop in cholera cases.

With a vast network of humanitarian aid workers in more than 70 countries and supply centers around the world, MSF can respond quickly to large-scale catastrophes and local emergencies. We’ve developed tools to rapidly deliver life-saving assistance that include surgical kits, relief items and even entire mobile hospitals. In South Sudan, we provide displaced people fleeing conflict with supplies such as tents, blankets, and hygiene kits that include soap.

From MSF’s start over 50 years ago, our medical teams made a commitment to call attention to the problems driving emergency needs. Bearing witness is a core element of our humanitarian response to disasters, both natural and human-made. Photographers accompanied MSF teams on some of our earliest assignments to show the world what aid workers were seeing.

We continue to speak out about our work not only to draw the world’s attention to global health crises, but to stand in solidarity with our patients and colleagues who are experiencing these emergencies firsthand.

Locally hired staff are essential to MSF’s ability to mobilize rapidly when crisis strikes. About 90 percent of MSF’s staff members are locally hired, either as direct employees or as Ministry of Health staff who work collaboratively with MSF. They are there before international staff arrive and remain even after they leave. They are the heart of MSF’s humanitarian action.

Our teams who are already on the ground are poised to respond to emergencies, with more staff in the region or further abroad available as reinforcements. In some countries, like Democratic Republic of Congo, MSF keeps established emergency response units in place to mobilize when crises strike throughout the country.

On the ground, MSF teams are in constant dialogue with communities, local authorities, and armed groups. This communication allows us to facilitate access and delivery of the best possible medical care for patients and their communities. We do our utmost to minimize the risk for our teams while providing quality medical assistance.

With over 50 years of experience working in disasters, MSF has developed tools to coordinate and collaborate with local first responders and authorities, including ministries of health.

MSF keeps pre-packaged kits ready for teams to offer immediate, lifesaving assistance. These range from surgical kits, essential hygiene items, cholera kits packed with medicine and supplies to stop infection, and even entire inflatable hospitals.

With over 50 years of experience delivering emergency humanitarian care to people cut off from medical assistance, MSF is well-versed in the challenges of operating in areas that can be difficult to reach.

Whether dealing with disasters such as earthquakes, floods or tsunamis or with the simple lack of roads in many places where they operate, MSF teams in the field must often work hard to reach or transport patients in remote or inaccessible locations.

We turn to a variety of adaptable means of transportation including, but not limited to, truck convoys, helicopters, boats, and even all-terrain ambulances.

We are able to treat millions of patients each year because our crisis response work is supported by a solid network of supply and logistics. Our humanitarian work runs on the basis that MSF staff should always have the right materials for the job at hand, whether in acute emergencies or in long-running programs.

Our humanitarian work is based on medical needs alone, independent of political, economic, or other interests. Our actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of impartiality, independence, and neutrality.