MSF Handbooks and Guidelines
MSF Field Research Publications
MSF is well known for its humanitarian medical work, but it has also produced important research based on its field experience with vulnerable populations. Its studies have been published in over 90 peer-reviewed journals and have often changed clinical practice and been used for humanitarian advocacy. This website archives MSF's scientific articles and makes them available free, with full text, and in an easily searchable format.
> www.fieldresearch.msf.org
MSF Reference Handbooks
Downloads
Over the years MSF has produced a collection of useful handbooks and reference books. The available titles are listed below. Where the selected title is downloadable, there is a download link provided. The document format is .pdf. (To view .pdf files, you can use Adobe Reader, downloadable from the Adobe Reader website.) The main download page for MSF books is located at the main "MSF Reference Books" site.
> www.refbooks.msf.org
Purchases
If you would like to purchase a hardcopy of one of the books listed below, please contact the following address:
Médecins Sans Frontières
Service Approvisionnement
8, rue Saint-Sabin
75544 Paris Cedex 11 - FranceTel.: 33 (0) 1 40 21 29 29
Fax : 33 (0) 1 48 06 68 568
E-mail : office@paris.msf.org
Available Titles
- CLINICAL GUIDELINES: DIAGNOSTIC AND TREATMENT MANUAL
This work lists the main diseases encountered by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) since 1971. It is intended for all medical professionals working in hospitals and clinics. The handbook has been thoroughly researched by taking into account MSF’ experience, recommendations made by reference organisations such as the WHO, and indications given by specialist workers. It has been designed as an effective and reliable source of information. Curative care is an integral part of medical programmes such as vaccination, mother-child care, water purification, environmental cleaning and nutrition. The manual can be used as a tool when developing a curative care policy.
> Download Clinical Guidelines: Diagnostic and Treatment Manual - ESSENTIAL DRUGS: PRACTICAL GUIDELINES
In remote or precarious conditions medical personnel need direct and simple answers that are adapted to daily practice; this handbook contains these answers. It is intended for all levels of health professionals, physicians, pharmacists, nurses or health auxiliaries working in curative care and managing drugs and medical equipment. Far from claiming to be a pharmacological dictionary, the book tries to respond directly and simply to the daily problems faced by health personnel by giving practical solutions that have proved effective to MSF in the field – as well as taking into account the recommendations of other reference organisations such as the WHO. The information supplied on the drug-sheets is adapted to the technical capabilities of the prescriber.
> Download Essential Drugs: Practical Guidelines - MINOR SURGICAL PROCEDURES IN REMOTE AREAS
How can we save lives and improve treatment without technical facilities and the minimum of equipment? To answer this question, MSF describes and explains in this guide the essential techniques necessary for 'minor surgery'. This handbook presents the most common and most useful medico-surgical techniques that can be easily carried out by a doctor or a nurse with advanced training who may find themselves in an isolated health centre with no means of evacuating a patient, nor with any surgical or X-ray equipment. Minor surgical treatment in remote areas is also useful for operating assistants, doctors working in emergency units and all health professionals who, without being surgeons, are called upon to carry out what is commonly called ‘minor surgery’ in thoroughly aseptic conditions and according to standard protocols. - BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS IN REMOTE AREAS
Blood transfusion is a life-saving act that is often considered banal; however, there can be very serious, even fatal, consequences for the receiver. This practical guidebook is designed to provide guidance in the prescription of blood transfusions, the selection of donors once the decision for a blood transfusion has been taken, and prevention of risks – particularly infectious diseases (AIDS, hepatitis, syphilis, malaria, sleeping sickness etc.) - related to the transfusion. This handbook was compiled for those in charge of transfusion programmes as well as doctors, laboratory technicians and all those involved in training health workers. - OBSTETRICS IN REMOTE SETTINGS
Mother/child mortality and morbidity in developing countries is outrageously high compared to industrialised countries. This is due to a multiplicity of cultural, economic, and logistical factors that often result in a lack of means in both material and human terms. This handbook has been devised with a view to saving a mother and child while working in an environment that is lacking in medical facilities and modern infrastructures. It offers tried and tested methods, although the development of technical means has rendered them obsolete in many industrialised countries. It is intended for non-specialists in remote areas with minimum medical facilities and is not intended to teach obstetrics, but rather to bring fundamental notions together that area likely to help practitioners working in outposts.
> Download "Obstetrics in Remote Settings" - OPHTALMOLOGY IN REMOTE SITUATIONS
This handbook is not an extensive textbook on ophthalmology but intends to give practical help to any personnel faced with eye-related diseases. Certain points have intentionally been neglected for the benefit of other, more essential, ones with the intention of being as simple and as efficient as possible. The indispensable notions of anatomy, physiology and sight are a briefly recalled in the initial chapters. All eye-related tropical diseases are reviewed in this handbook. The chapter entitled “ A few simple techniques to know” summarises the techniques that should be used in certain precise circumstances. The choice of therapy is intentionally limited in order to conform with the WHO’s list of essential drugs and to avoid the mistakes that would inevitably be caused by too great a cause. - MANAGEMENT OF EPIDEMIC MENINGOCOCCAL MENINGITIS
The epidemiological factors responsible for menigococcal epidemics are yet to be fully understood. Nevertheless it is clear that promiscuity, high-population urban areas and poor socio-economic conditions are favourable grounds for spreading Neisseria meningitis, of which humans are the reservoir. In epidemic situations – whether rural, urban, among displaced populations or in refugee camps – the main goal is to reduce the mortality and morbidity related to meningitis. The operational methods are adapted to the context. This is a short but extremely detailed handbook. It offers a method for determining the existence of an epidemic, confirming the diagnosis, investigating the epidemic, treating the cases and implementing a vaccination campaign.
> Download "Management of Epidemic Meningococcal Meningitis" - MANAGEMENT OF A MEASLES EPIDEMIC
Measles is considered a banal childhood illness in industrialised countries but in developing countries it is still devastating. This handbook is designed to provide methodology to health staff working in measles epidemics in the field. During an epidemic, the most urgent priority is to prevent the spread of disease and to reduce morbidity and mortality. The first part of the book covers general clinical and epidemiological notions as well as the investigation of an epidemic which serves to identify and set up the most effective prevention measures. The second part defines the action to be taken: vaccination campaign and treatment of cases. - RAPID HEALTH ASSESSMENT OF REFUGEE OR DISPLACED POPULATIONS
In order to plan and implement aid for a displaced population, it is essential to assess their health status and estimate the needs in certain vital areas. This simple and practical guide, drawn from MSF’s and Epicentre’s experience in the field, is intended for health personnel who need to carry out a rapid health assessment of a refugee or displaced population: data collection and analysis concerning demography, mortality, morbidity, nutritional and immunisation status as well as water and food resources etc.
> Download "Rapid Health Assessment of Refugee or Displaced Populations" - PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS
Public health engineering comes under the general heading of health and is vital in the prevention of a number of diseases linked to lack of hygiene, the quality and quantity of water, waste and insect and rodent vectors. These diseases may not necessarily kill, but they are always responsible for deterioration in the physical condition of individuals. For long considered as a ‘specialist’s field’, public health engineering has now become an integral part of preventative measures on par with vaccination, nutrition, mother-child care etc. The handbook includes technical sheets that may be adapted to local customs as well as to the logistical and financial means available in the field. This guide emphasises the ‘three A’s’ for all sanitation installation: socially Acceptable (a good knowledge of the local population concerned is important), Appropriate (technically well adapted) and Affordable (moderate costs). - NUTRITION GUIDELINES
Emergency nutrition interventions are among the most vital components of an emergency relief response. It is nevertheless an extremely complex subject and the form of response depends on many factors. These guidelines are not supposed to be another academic work on nutrition; there are already various excellent reference works available. Neither is it a recipe book to identify each type of nutritional problem and supply a standardised response. Every programme in each country or region has its own particularities according tot he context. The purpose of this book is to facilitate the simple application of fundamental principles necessary for the assessment of nutritional programmes in emergency situations. - REFUGEE HEALTH IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS
In crisis situations characterised by the massive displacement of populations, there are immense needs and relatively limited resources. Drawn from MSF’s experience working with refugees, this operational manual discusses the priorities of intervention during the different stages of a refugee crisis, from the acute phase through to the repatriation process. Refugee health in emergency situation is intended for health personnel as well as non-medical staff involved in operational decision levels in this type of situation.
> Download "Refugee Health in Emergency Situations" - DISPENSARY GUIDELINES: INSTALLATION AND ORGANISATION
The organisation of curative care in a health facility is one of the priorities to be rapidly set up in order to reduce the mortality rate in refugee or displaced populations. This guide is intended for medical personnel in charge of the organisation of a dispensary in an emergency context (consultations and referrals; management of personnel, materials and drugs; hygiene of materials and facilities; epidemiological surveillance etc.) It is designed above all for the emergency phase, but also offers advice that is useful for the post-emergency phase. The guide includes various forms in annex (individual health card, surveillance forms etc.) as well as a description of tasks for the different types of personnel. These annexes can be adapted to the various needs in the field are also available on disquette PC, Windows 95, Word 7.0: the disquette is integrated into the guide so as to facilitate immediate printing. - PRACTICAL GUIDELINES FOR THE TRAINING OF HEALTH PERSONNEL
This guide is designed for physicians and health personnel in charge of training and supervising local staff. It can also be used by non-medical staff who are interested in training programmes as the idea to give direction and structure the setting up of a programme. Moreover, the training methodology can be used whatever the field to be taught. Each chapter is independent, however, when designing a full programme, it is recommended that all chapters be read in the order presented. The vocabulary which is used in this guide is simple and precise, It is necessary to have a good command of this specific vocabulary when referring to training programmes. Numerous examples from the field are also included in this guide and can be found in the annexes. - TUBERCULOSIS
Tubercolosis is a desease that caregivers in poor countries face every day. Its treatment does not necessarily require a vertical programme, and should be a part of a regular medical activities, even when the number of patients is limited. Tuberculosis is second only to AIDS as a cause of death from infection disease in adults. In term of research, however, tuberculosis continues to be a neglected disease. Since the discovery of rifampicin forty years ago, there have been no new tuberculosis drugs. Diagnosis still depends largely on sputum microscopy, which is unsuitable for a large number of patients. The purpose of this manual is to help caregivers take the maximum possible advantage of both the existing methods and the rare innovations offering improved diagnosis and treatment.
> Download "Tuberculosis"
