Médecins Sans Frontières: medical operations and distributed leadership

A movement with separate legal entities

Médecins Sans Frontières, abbreviated MSF and known in English as Doctors Without Borders, provides medical humanitarian assistance. Its governance account describes independent national and regional associations whose members elect boards and presidents. International coordination is important, but this structure is not a single company with one worldwide chief executive officer, often abbreviated CEO. Identifying a national office requires checking its own governing and operational responsibilities. [1]

Current international leadership

Dr Javid Abdelmoneim became international president in September 2025. The president chairs international governing bodies and represents the movement. Laura Leyser became international secretary general on March 1, 2026, leading the international executive office. These offices have different functions from national executives and medical project leaders. A leader’s birthplace or citizenship does not establish control by that country’s government. [1][2]

Who funds the work?

The movement’s 2025 financial account reports that private donors and institutions supplied 98 percent of approximately €2.6 billion raised. This category includes individuals, foundations, and companies; private does not mean every contribution came from a household. Funding restrictions exclude certain industries, and the organization explains its refusal of some government funding. Such policies need to be read alongside actual accounts, restrictions on gifts, and decisions about patient access. [3]

Medical delivery and supply systems

Its 2025 activity report records work in 72 countries and approximately 17.1 million outpatient consultations. Consultations count encounters, not necessarily distinct patients. Care depends on clinical staff, transport, medicine procurement, laboratories, and local cooperation. A donor, a medical supplier, and an operating association occupy different positions in that chain; naming one does not establish ownership of the others. [4]

Accountability includes harmful conduct

The organization’s 2025 behavior report recorded 1,122 complaints across projects and headquarters and 299 confirmed cases of abuse or inappropriate behavior. Some matters remained under investigation, and it warned about underreporting. Complaint counts cannot alone measure safety: accessible reporting can increase recorded cases. Evaluate prevention, fair investigation, remedies, and sanctions alongside medical output, without presenting lifesaving work as immunity from scrutiny. [5]

People, institutions and evidence

Related learning

Oxfam: safeguarding failures, reforms, and humanitarian work

Comparing leadership, money, and evidence across organizations

Boards, chief executives, and management

Governments and cross-border funding

View the twenty-topic guide

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