MSF Science Portal

While Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is known mostly for providing direct medical aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from health services, we also conduct research aimed at improving patient care and advocating for evidence-based policy and practices. To this end we conduct hundreds of research studies each year, publish extensively in peer-reviewed journals, and present our findings at scientific conferences around the world, including several annual MSF-organized events.

With the MSF Science Portal we introduce a new platform that aims to be a « one-stop shop » for content related to this work, so that users anywhere can easily find, browse, access, share and use the knowledge our research generates. Alongside frequent updates of new publications, conference materials, reports and featured content, we will continue to develop this site and to expand its range of content. To learn more about the Portal and what it offers, check out the short videos and slide presentation in this collection.

Collection Content

See more collections

Noma

Noma, also known as cancrum oris, is a rapidly progressing life-threatening infection that affects the mouth and face. Noma is preventable and easy to treat if addressed in the early reversible stages, but most often deadly if untreated. The disease most commonly affects children who are chronically malnourished or whose immune systems are otherwise compromised. Noma affects an estimated 140,000 children annually. Noma was added to the WHO's list of Neglected Tropical Diseases in 2023.

MSF is working to discover more about noma. This collection highlights MSF's mixed methods research on treatment outcomes, burden of disease, attitudes towards the disease and other aspects of noma.

For more information on MSF's work on noma, you can also visit https://noma.msf.org/.

Complex humanitarian emergencies and other low-resource settings can be exceedingly difficult places to provide quality mental health (MH) care. Yet these environments also often have a high burden of mental health care needs. This collection presents a set of articles describing how MSF teams have adapted and evaluated ways of bringing clinically impactful MH care to neglected communities and patients—from forcibly displaced populations in northern Nigeria to Syrian refugees in Lebanon and typhoon survivors in the Philippines. It also highlights work on developing new tools for providing clinical supervision and for identifying those patients most in need of care in fragile settings, and on new approaches to delivering MH services during the Covid-19 pandemic.

CHALLENGE/OPPORTUNITY
Each year MSF conducts hundreds of research studies to help fill gaps in the medical knowledge needed for our humanitarian work, and then disseminates the findi...

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing public health crisis, especially in countries with fragile health systems, population displacement or ongoing conflict. In 2019 antibiotic-resistant bacteria directly caused an estimated 1.27 million deaths, and contributed to 4.95 million deaths, tolls that will continue to increase if no effective action is taken.

MSF’s approach to combatting antimicrobial resistance combines three pillars: infection prevention and control, microbiology and surveillance, and rational use of antibiotics via antibiotic stewardship. Several studies characterize patterns and prevalence of antibiotic resistance among MSF patients, from civilians wounded in Middle East conflicts to hospitalized neonates in Central African Republic and Haiti. New technologies developed by MSF and partners are expanding local capacity for rapid, accurate laboratory diagnosis of infections, so that clinicians can prescribe the right antibiotic for each patient. Other work assesses the practices and challenges related to optimizing rational antibiotic use within health facilities and communities.

If you're interested in learning more about MSF's work in antimicrobial resistance, view the full list of MSF's publications on the topic.

CHALLENGE/OPPORTUNITY
Each year MSF conducts hundreds of research studies to help fill gaps in the medical knowledge needed for our humanitarian work, and then disseminates the findi...

Science Portal

Collection Content

See more collections

Noma

Mental health in humanitarian settings

Combatting antimicrobial resistance

A tour of the MSF Science Portal

The MSF Science Portal: a “one-stop shop” for our public research content

The MSF Science Portal: A “one-stop shop” for our public research content

The MSF Science Portal: A “one-stop shop” for our public research content

A tour of the MSF Science Portal

The MSF Science Portal: a “one-stop shop” for our public research content

The MSF Science Portal: A “one-stop shop” for our public research content

The MSF Science Portal: A “one-stop shop” for our public research content