An XDR-TB patient looking at her boxes of TB medication in Mumbai, India
We fill gaps in India’s health system and provide specific medical care to neglected people who would otherwise struggle to access it.

We have a number of long-standing projects in India, which we run in conjunction with the state authorities to address specific healthcare needs and emerging public health concerns.

We also run mobile clinics in remote areas of the country, where even preventable, treatable conditions such as malaria can assume life-threatening proportions.

Our teams are currently responding to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Key Activities

Our Activities in India In 2021

MSF IN INDIA IN 2021 In India, Médecins Sans Frontières works to fill gaps in healthcare for the most marginalised and vulnerable people, including victims of sexual violence and patients with infectious diseases.
MSF, Doctors without borders, India, Map

In spite of constraints imposed by COVID-19, we continued to run a wide range of services in India, including mental health support for people affected by conflict in Kashmir, basic healthcare in remote areas of Chhattisgarh, and treatment for victims of sexual and gender-based violence in the capital, New Delhi.

In Manipur, our teams run HIV clinics offering a patient-centred approach to care, and support the antiretroviral treatment centre and HIV inpatient ward in a district hospital. We also distribute food coupons and dry rations to homeless intravenous drug users, and continue to work with the government to improve access to holistic care for HIV patients with life-threatening opportunistic infections.

During the second COVID-19 wave, we sent emergency teams to manage high-dependency units in Imphal and Churachandpur. We also launched a telemedicine and a mental health helpline for those diagnosed with the virus. In one of India’s poorest states, Bihar, we focus on providing both lifesaving and palliative care to patients living with advanced HIV. Nutrition and mental health support are important elements of our model of care. 

In Mumbai, we treat complex cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) at our clinic and support outpatient services in M/East ward, which has one of the highest rates of the disease in the city. In 2021, we continued to treat patients enrolled in the endTB clinical trial, with the aim of generating more evidence for shorter, more tolerable, injection-free treatments for multidrug-resistant TB. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we offered phone consultations and provided longer drug refills to ensure continued care.

Our teams also supported the treatment of moderate COVID-19 patients in one of the city’s hospitals, provided training to Ministry of Health staff, and carried out health promotion and shielding activities in the community.

MSF, Doctors without borders, India, Kala Azar
video

Kala Azar Explainer

Have you heard of kala azar?

KALA AZAR IS A NEGLECTED BUT POTENTIALLY FATAL TROPICAL DISEASE. INDIA ACCOUNTS FOR 30 PER CENT OF CASES WORLDWIDE. This short animation explains what kala azar is, how it relates to HIV, and what we are doing in response.

Since 80 per cent of India's kala azar cases are reported in Bihar, we set up a programme there in 2007.

People living with HIV are particularly vulnerable to kala azar, so since 2016 we have been focusing on treating patients co-infected with the two diseases, in partnership with the Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (RMRIMS) in Patna, Bihar.

 
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