LuxOR

What are the most significant gaps in access to quality medical care? Do health programs meet patients’ needs? Does the assistance provided by MSF reach people living in remote and resource‑limited settings?

Operational Research (OR) helps MSF engage in in‑depth reflection on its programs and operations, evaluate what is working well in a project, and identify what needs to be improved. Based in Luxembourg, Brussels, and MSF’s various regional offices, the Operational Research Unit known as LuxOR conducts research projects that support humanitarian and medical action worldwide.

LuxOR has gradually expanded its support for field epidemiological activities in order to strengthen MSF’s use of evidence‑based data in operational decision‑making. LuxOR assists project teams in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data, with the aim of understanding the causes of diseases, how they spread, and how they can be controlled.

In 2023, LuxOR supported the response to multiple outbreaks of measles, cholera, and malaria in at least four countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Haiti). This support included providing technical training to field epidemiologists and data managers, ensuring that appropriate tools for data collection, storage, and analysis were in place, and delivering strategic guidance to medical teams.

Following the establishment in 2021 of a nutrition and food security surveillance system in South Sudan, designed to better understand population needs both at the project level and nationally, LuxOR worked in 2023 on adapting this tool for use by MSF globally.

LuxOR shares its findings with the international MSF movement and its partner organizations, and contributes to advocacy efforts aimed at driving changes in health policies and practices. The results and recommendations, grounded in reliable information, help provide appropriate guidance to local, national, and international stakeholders. The operational research studies conducted by LuxOR are published in reputable scientific journals and are freely accessible (click here) to researchers and the international humanitarian community. You can also access showcases, field feedback, and more in the publications section.