The severity of the West Africa Ebola epidemic saw Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) launch one of the largest emergency operations in its 44-year history.
Between March 2014 and December 2015, MSF responded in the three most affected countries—Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia—and also to the spread of cases to Nigeria, Senegal and Mali. At the peak of the epidemic, MSF employed nearly 4,000 national staff and more than 325 international staff who ran Ebola management centers as well as conducted surveillance, contact tracing, health promotion and provided psychological support.
MSF admitted 10,310 patients to its Ebola management centers of which 5,201 were confirmed Ebola cases, representing one-third of all WHO-confirmed cases. In total, the organization spent nearly 104 million euros tackling the epidemic between March 2014 and December 2015. During the first five months of the epidemic, MSF handled more than 85 percent of all hospitalized cases in the affected countries.
Today MSF continues to support Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone by running Ebola survivor clinics that provide a comprehensive care package, including medical and psychological care and activities to counter stigma.
Through this short report, MSF would like to provide transparency about its expenditure linked to the worst Ebola outbreak in history.