This blog is based on insights and advice from a doctor currently working at MSF, alongside information sourced from the official MSF website.
🤔 What is MSF?
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, is an international humanitarian organisation that provides medical care in areas where it is needed most. Whether responding to armed conflicts, natural or man-made disasters, or epidemics, MSF delivers essential healthcare to those in crisis. The organisation is independent and impartial, relying solely on donations from individuals and organisations to fund its work.
Operating in over 75 countries, MSF has a workforce of more than 69,000 professionals, including healthcare workers, logisticians, and administrative staff.
🩺 What Jobs Does MSF Offer for Doctors?
MSF provides a wide range of opportunities for doctors across various medical specialties. Some of the key roles include:
- Anaesthetists
- Epidemiologists
- Obstetricians/ gynaecologists
- Surgeons
- Infectious diseases specialist
- Paediatrician
- Emergency doctor
- General practitioner
- Psychiatrists
At MSF, there is an opportunity to take on a managerial role alongside your clinical duties. This role includes managing staff, overseeing daily operations, providing clinical supervision, and ensuring adherence to MSF’s protocols and guidelines to deliver quality patient care. While similar to an NHS position, the MSF environment requires greater adaptability and problem-solving due to the various challenges faced in the field.
There is also continuous training to maintain staff competency and regular evaluations.
For more details, visit the official MSF careers page here.
🗒 Requirements
To work as a doctor with MSF, you must meet the following criteria:
- Hold a full GMC licence (UK) or be registered with the Irish Medical Council.
- Have a minimum of 3 years of professional experience post-registration (ST3 level or above).
- Be available for a minimum commitment of 6 months.
- Be willing to work in diverse environments, including unstable or high-risk areas.
- Be open to multiple assignments, rather than a single mission.
- Be comfortable working in English or French. Fluency in other languages is an advantage and can improve your chances of deployment.
🩺 Who is Best Suited to Work with MSF?
The ideal MSF doctor is resilient, adaptable, and a strong team player. Humanitarian work demands quick decision-making, problem-solving skills, and the ability to stay calm under pressure.
Cultural sensitivity is essential, as MSF works closely with local staff and communities, tailoring medical care to their specific needs. While MSF provides strong support, fieldworkers must be prepared to face medical and logistical challenges independently.
Those in mobile teams need flexibility and the ability to manage a wide range of cases with limited resources.
Key Qualities for MSF Doctors:
✔️ Adaptability – Comfortable working in multicultural teams and challenging environments.
✔️ Resilience & Stress Management – Ability to cope in high-pressure situations.
✔️ Team Player & Problem-Solver – Proactive, solution-oriented, and able to collaborate effectively.
✔️ Flexibility – Open to varied assignments, changing conditions, and unpredictable challenges.
💰The Numbers: Pay and Work Schedule
At first MSF offers an initial fixed starting salary during the indemnity period. This is the preparatory phase before deployment. This amount is the same for everyone, irrespective of their job.
MSF meets the global base salary for all international staff members after the indemnity period. This base salary depends on your job function and previous experience. Salaries differer depending on location, risk level and medical expertise required.
Any previous non-MSF experience is taken into account and the indemnity period can be adjusted accordingly along with your starting salary after the indemnity period.
For more information on salary at MSF click here.
Benefits
- Basic and secure accommodation is provided by MSF.
- Transport between your work and accommodation is provided.
- Annual leave: according to your contract type.
- Retirement: Depending on your contracting section.
- Maternity leave: A minimum of 14 weeks’ paid leave (or more depending on the contracting section).
- Insurance:
- Comprehensive medical coverage
- Life insurance
- Accidental Death and Dismemberment
- Lost and stolen luggage/items
- Medical evacuation/repatriation
- Professional liability
🏥 When and Where?
As an MSF doctor, you could be deployed anywhere in the world. For your first mission, you will likely be assigned to a low-risk location, but you may not have the opportunity to choose where you go.
🔒 Safety
When working with MSF, safety cannot be taken for granted. The majority of missions you’ll be placed in will be medium risk, often in areas affected by conflict or war. It’s important to consider whether you are comfortable and competent working in these safety-compromised environments.
Living conditions can sometimes be challenging. You will almost always need to share bathrooms and kitchens, and at times, you may have to live in makeshift accommodation.
🟢 Low Risk
- Safer environment, with more freedom of movement.
- Opportunity to explore locally and even go on short holidays.
🟠 Medium-High Risk
- The majority of MSF missions fall into this category.
- Curfews may be in place, and movement is often restricted to a compound.
- You’ll need to report your location and travel plans for security reasons.
🔴 High Risk
- Severely restricted movement, potentially working in active conflict zones.
- Must strictly follow safety procedures set by the Project Coordinator.
🏠 Living Conditions
When working with MSF, you may need to adapt to living conditions that differ from what you’re accustomed to at home. While individual rooms are typically provided for international staff, communal bathrooms, kitchens, living spaces, and meals are often shared with your teammates. One MSF doctor described it to being like “a summer camp for adults”.
During emergency missions, accommodation may be very basic. Your personal time and privacy may be minimal, and phone communication could be limited or complicated.
📩Tips for Applying (from a Current MSF Doctor)
Applying to MSF is a unique opportunity to practice medicine in humanitarian settings while making a real impact. To stand out, emphasise your flexibility and problem-solving skills, as each mission comes with its own challenges and priorities.
During the interview, you may be asked to respond to specific scenarios. You’ll need to demonstrate your problem-solving abilities and critical thinking skills in your answers.
Key Tips for Applicants:
✔️ Relevant Experience Helps – Experience in emergency medicine, trauma care, infectious diseases, or mental health is highly valuable. However, MSF also provides specialised training to help doctors adapt to different medical environments.
✔️ Intercalated Degree or Relevant Qualification – A diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene, a master’s in public health, or any related intercalated degree would be highly beneficial and add a competitive edge to your application. (To see the range of intercalations available check out our blog here!)
✔️ Relevant Humanitarian Experience – Demonstrated experience in fundraising and volunteering with humanitarian organisations, showcasing a strong passion for humanitarian work.
✔️ Understand MSF’s Core Principles – MSF operates based on neutrality, impartiality, and independence. These values guide every decision in the field, so a strong understanding of them is essential.
✔️ Fluency in a secondary language – The main languages at MSF are French and English. Fluency in another language such as Arabic, Spanish and Russian would boost your application.
🗓️ What Does Your Day-to-Day Look Like? (From an MSF Doctor)
As a Medical Doctor in the MSF-Nablus Mobile Team, my daily routine varies depending on the community’s medical needs. Some days involve providing primary healthcare and managing chronic diseases, while others focus on emergency response, trauma care, or mental health support. Our team travels to different locations, ensuring that vulnerable populations have access to essential care.
Key aspects of the role include coordinating with local healthcare providers, facilitating medical referrals, and conducting health education sessions. One of the benefits of working with MSF-France is the strong work-life balance, with no excessively long hours. Despite the challenges, the teamwork and shared commitment to our patients make each day incredibly rewarding.
MSF-France provides robust logistical and medical support, enabling our teams to deliver high-quality care even in challenging environments. For example, in MSF-Nablus, the mission is well-structured, addressing both medical and mental health needs while adapting to the evolving situation on the ground.
✅ Advantages
- The sense of purpose and the direct impact on patients’ lives make it an incredibly meaningful experience.
- Opportunity to travel while working, experiencing new cultures, and working in diverse healthcare settings across different countries.
- You will be well supported and cared for by MSF, an organisation with over 50 years of history and a Nobel Peace Prize to its name.
Working with MSF allows you to practice medicine in its purest form, prioritising patient care over bureaucracy. It offers exposure to a wide range of medical conditions, opportunities for professional growth, and the chance to contribute to healthcare in crisis-affected areas.
The support from MSF-France in logistics, supplies, and security ensures that we can focus entirely on delivering care. Unlike many other humanitarian organisations, MSF guarantees a balanced workload, with well-structured working hours and ample time for rest and recovery.
❌ Disadvantages?
- Safety can be compromised in the majority of missions.
- Being away from home and family for prolonged periods of time.
- Adapting to a new environment, climate, food and cultural norms can be challenging at first.
- Once you’ve successfully completed the interview, it may take some time to be matched with your position. During this period, flexibility regarding your commitments will be necessary.
While challenges do exist—such as working in unpredictable environments—the sense of teamwork, the shared mission, and the positive impact on patients’ lives make it all incredibly rewarding.
📌 Summary
Unlike many other humanitarian organisations, MSF ensures a balanced workload, with well-structured working hours and adequate time for rest.
While some challenges exist—such as working in unpredictable environments and the possibility of compromised safety—the sense of teamwork, the shared mission, and the positive impact on patients’ lives make it all incredibly rewarding.
The opportunity to practice medicine in its purest form, travel to new places, and experience different healthcare settings adds further value to the experience, making it a unique and fulfilling career choice.
📚Resources
Thanks for reading! A huge thank you to Dr Luveon Tang and Dr Mohammed Batta for their contribution to the blog. If you have any suggestions or feedback, feel free to share them in the comments below!
