Since early 2020, COVID-19 has put tremendous strain on healthcare systems, disrupted economies, and halted large parts of social life in many countries around the world. In a race against the fast spreading virus and rapidly increasing patient numbers, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) scaled-up its global response from early January, committing substantial resources to both developing dedicated COVID-19 projects and maintaining essential healthcare in its existing programmes.
In March, MSF created the COVID-19 Crisis Fund, to raise urgently needed funds for both its dedicated COVID-19 programmes and to mitigate potential severe impact on existing health services. The fund seeks to raise 150 million euros, which will be used to cover direct and indirect costs related to COVID-19 over the course of 2020 and 2021. By late July, just over 99 million euros had been raised.
This report, covering March to May 2020, is the first in a series of accountability reports and operational snapshots offering insight into MSF’s global COVID-19 response, highlighting activities and outcomes, documenting expenditures, and shedding light on challenges faced in accessing and supplying communities with essential medicines and supplies.