Médecins Sans Frontières
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders in English, is an independent humanitarian organisation that provides medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare.
Usage of OpenStreetMap data
MSF is using OpenStreetMap data in almost all of its maps. Several of their maps can be found on Reliefweb. MSF staffers are also large users of mobile apps using OpenStreetMap, such as OsmAnd and Organic Maps. You can read some of their user stories on the Missing Maps blog.
Contributions to OpenStreetMap
MSF contributes to OpenStreetMap under the flag of the Missing Maps Project. The organisation relies mostly on volunteer mappers and does not have an internal mapping team that systematically updates OpenStreetMap as part of their job. We welcome everyone to contribute to our mapping projects, see Category:Missing Maps mapper - OpenStreetMap Wiki & Humanitarian OSM Team/Interested OSM Users - OpenStreetMap Wiki for individuals supporting MSF mapping activities.
The coordination of all MSF its mapping is done by 2 FTE positions based at MSF UK & MSF Czech Republic. For any question on MSF's activities around OpenStreetMap, please email us at missing[dot]maps[at]london[dot]msf[dot]org
Editing the map
Most remote mapping happens through the HOT Tasking Manager. Find all MSF projects here. In every MSF project clear instructions adapted to the context are provided.
Field data is collected with help of different tools: Osmand, Organic Maps, Kobotoolbox, Field Papers, etc.
We use the hashtags #MSF #missingmaps or tag source=MSFsurvey for all our projects. For every individual activity an additional unique hashtag is used as well (see below).
Software
In 2016 MSF launched MapSwipe. Currently MSF is part of the MapSwipe governance team, but the app is managed as a collaboration between multiple Missing Maps stakeholders.
Financial contribution
MSF was sponsor for 2 State of the Map conferences.
- State of the Map 2016 in Brussels, Belgium
- State of the Map Asia 2019 in Dhaka, Bangladesh
MSF contributes every year as well financially to the HOT Tasking Manager and the MapSwipe Open Collective.
Community building
MSF tries to bring mappers together everywhere they work. From the organisation and support to mapathons and trainings in Moscow, Singapore and Prague - to mapping sessions and events with mapping communities in Freetown, Dhaka and Rio de Janeiro.
Ensuring Data Quality
Data produced must meet high quality standards. For remote mapping we rely on volunteer mappers to do a first data validation and feedback to the initial mappers. Once this validation is completed a third pass validation of the data is done by MSF staff. Field data editing is in all cases reviewed by MSF staff experienced in OSM mapping.
MSF has also been taking the following initiatives to promote data quality:
- Curating MSF validation teams on the HOT Tasking Manager: MSF has two volunteer validation teams on the HOT Tasking Manager (HOT TM): MSF validators (by request) and MSF Building Validators Squad (invite only). If the MSF Missing Maps coordination team is aware of upcoming mapathons that do not have validators in the group, they announce those mapathons and their assigned HOT TM projects to the teams, who kindly support with live validation. MSF's goal is to have live validation during all mapathons organised.
- Organising validation mapathons and having validation trainings/groups during mapathons mapping MSF projects: Live validation is often not sufficient to cover all validation needs. MSF hence also invests in the organisation of specific validation mapathons.
- Experience sharing amongst validators and experience mappers: MSF is engaged and built links with a small community of dedicated, experienced contributors to help provide feedback for new mappers and validate our projects during and after mapathons. At some of our mapathons, notably the MM London mid-month mapathons, most Missing Maps CZ SK mapathons and MSF validation mapathons, we do validation training and validators share experience and tips. These sessions help improve the quality and consistency of OSM data, as well learn new workflows and improve their overall understanding to the validators.
- Sponsoring two HOT Data Quality interns: in Fall 2022, as well as mentoring and keeping in touch with them into 2023. Sadly the program run by HOT was discontinued.
- Engaging a Data Quality consultant: in Fall 2023 MSF hired someone from the validator team on a temporarily base to help with the "last mile". The consultant helped with more difficult urgent projects and provided validation to new mappers and some of the bigger mapathons.
- Clear task instructions: In every MSF project on the HOT TM or any other tool clear instructions adapted to the context are provided.
- Creating & sharing relevant resources how to support high quality mapping: MSF has an internal Missing Maps Resource Hub with textual and visual resources including tutorials and guides on how to support the mapping during a mapathon. As much as possible these materials are also shared publicly via the Missing Maps website or other channels.
- Training and community building of internal MSF Missing Maps champions - mapathon organisers: MSF has through the years also organised in-person training of trainers, the latest was a 3-day in September 2023, during which JOSM and validation were introduced, and followed up with an online JOSM intermediate training.
Activity Overview
Find in below table MSF's mapping projects.
| Status | Start date | (Planned) End date | Location | Purpose | Type | Project page or number | Hashtag | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ongoing | 2024-04 | 2024-06 | Sokoto, Nigeria | Since 2014, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has been supporting aid in Sokoto, Nigeria. Particularly the Sokoto Noma Hospital, with a programme of activities for people affected by Noma, including Noma survivors and their families. Noma, a neglected and little-known non-contagious disease, mostly affects children under five living in poverty.
Four times a year, a team of international surgeons, anaesthesiologists and nurses travel to Sokoto Noma Hospital to operate on Noma survivors. The hospital, run in collaboration with the Nigerian Ministry of Health, also focuses on community outreach, active case finding in the region, health promotion and mental health support. Better maps are needed in particular to support these community health activities. |
Remote mapping via HOT Tasking manager: mapping buildings, roads and waterways | See here whole campaign and instructions | #sokoto24 | |
| Ongoing | March 2024 | April 2024 | Djokoro and environs, Chad | Thousands of people amassed at Chad’s eastern border areas seeking refuge from a raging conflict in neighbouring Sudan. MSF teams are covering hundreds of kilometres on rough roads to run mobile clinics for Sudanese refugees and the host community. Sadly some parts of the region do not have good maps and MSF does not know the exact location of all the villages in the region. | Remote mapping via HOT Tasking manager: mapping buildings and residential land use. | [1][2][3] | #Djokoro | |
| Ongoing | March 2024 | August 2024 | Mizoram State, India | Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is supporting local communities as well as those who have been temporarily displaced to Mizoram state in India following the conflict in Myanmar. These provinces where MSF works in Mizoram state are amongst the most impoverished of the districts in North-eastern India. Water, health care and sanitation needs are quite high, and infrastructure was already very weak for the host population before the influx of thousands displaced people into the villages.
MSF aims to provide free and quality medical and mental health care to the communities in the area, while responding to any medical-humanitarian emergency that may occur in Mizoram State. Activities include mobile medical clinics, mental health support, water and sanitation support and distributions of non-food items such as kitchen utensils & blankets. |
Remote mapping via HOT Tasking manager: mapping buildings, roads and residential areas. | [4] | #mizoramstate | |
| Ongoing | March 2024 | April 2024 | Bentiu, South Sudan | In Bentiu every year floods occur and recently the region has known as well an influx of refugees fleeing the conflict in Sudan. MSF work already for years in the region and uses OpenStreetMap to support all daily activities. | Remote mapping via HOT Tasking Manager. | #16409 | #Bentiu | |
| Ongoing | February 2024 | June 2024 | Jiwaka province, Papua New Guinea | Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is starting a new project to support survivors of gender based violence in the Jiwaka Province in Papua New Guinea. The team managed to visit some areas, but discovered as well that the area is very poorly mapped. For this reason the MSF team in Papua New Guinea has now requested for Missing Maps volunteers to map the area. | Remote mapping via HOT Tasking Manager. | See here whole campaign and instructions. | #JiwakaProvince | |
| Ongoing | November 2023 | May 2024 | Homa Bay County, Kenya | MSF has been working in Kenya since 1987, providing medical services including treatment for HIV, TB and non-communicable diseases. In Homa Bay MSF is working on ensuring continuity of care for people with chronic diseases. MSF operates in Homa Bay’s state-run hospital where around 250 patients from all over the region are admitted every month. MSF works as well to enhance community initiatives by proposing differentiated care models based on a person-centered approach. Better maps will serve the MSF team to improve the understanding of patient origin and will facilitate and rationalize home visits to chronic disease patients. | Remote mapping via HOT Tasking Manager. | See here whole campaign and instructions. | #homabay2023 | |
| Complete | September 2023 | February 2023 | Gummi LGA, Nigeria | MSF is organising a survey in November and would like to use the building data to do spatial sampling. The area was mapped already last year, but in the mean time more recent imagery became available. | Remote mapping via HOT Tasking Manager. | #15540 | #gummi2023 | |
| Complete | August 2023 | January 2024 | Moissala, Chad | In 2019-2020 the MSF team in Moissala, Chad organised a community and population estimation survey in the health district of Moissala to support a new maternal and child health programme. Thanks to the mapping of Missing Maps volunteers the technique of spatial sampling could be used to conduct the survey, and an accurate population estimation that was based on combining the survey data and building footprint data was made possible.
Now, several years later, MSF teams are still working in the region and have requested for Missing Maps volunteers to update the building footprint data so they can update their population estimations and plan health activities accordingly. |
Remote mapping via HOT Tasking Manager. | See here whole campaign and instructions. | #moissala2023 |
|
| Ongoing | July 2023 | August 2024 | N'Djamena, Chad | This project concerns the entire city of N'Djamena and its neighbourhoods. The purpose is to use the geographic data to determine whether the workers' neighbourhood is in an area at risk of flooding or not. | Remote mapping via HOT Tasking Manager. | See here whole campaign and instructions. | #ndjamena2023 | |
| Ongoing | June 2023 | June 2024 | West Darfur, Sudan | For almost two months, El Geneina, West Darfur’s capital in Sudan, has seen intense fighting. After nearly two months of blockade people are now desperately trying to escape the area. El Geneina is located approximately 35 kilometres from the Chadian border, around 15,000 Sudanese refugees have already reached the Chadian town of Adré the last weeks. Please help us map the areas around El Geneina and Adré to support our MSF teams working in the region. | Remote mapping via HOT Tasking Manager. | See here whole campaign and instructions. | #westdarfur2023 | |
| Ongoing | May 2023 | August 2024 | Tandjile, Chad | Chad is a largely semi-desert country that is home to more than 17 million people. Despite being rich in resources, it suffers from inadequate infrastructure and internal conflict. The country is embroiled in a chronic health crisis, with repeated epidemics and nutrition crises, and some of the highest rates of infant, child and maternal deaths in the world. MSF teams focus on supporting women, children, and the large number of refugees from conflicts in neighbouring countries.
Epidemics of measles are recurrent in Chad and measles are a leading killer of young children. Vaccination coverage is weak countrywide and many families, even those in urban areas, struggle to access paediatric care if their child falls sick. In spring 2023 a mass measles vaccination campaign took place in the Tandjilé region in Chad. The mapping data was however of such low quality and was not of great help. We ask thus your support to map the area so it can be used for any future intervention in the region. |
Remote mapping via HOT Tasking Manager. | #tandjile2023 | ||
| Ongoing | April 2023 | August 2024 | Maiduguri, Nigeria | Maiduguri is the capital of Borno State, in the northeast of Nigeria. Many of MSF its patients have come to the city to escape armed conflict and insecurity in the region. Currently MSF sees an unprecedented numbers of malnourished children in need of lifesaving treatment being brought into their health care centres. To implement a new mobile clinic strategy, MSF would like to have a better overview where patients are coming from. | Remote mapping via HOT Tasking Manager. | #14729 | #maiduguri2023 | |
| Complete | April 2023 | March 2024 | Bata, Equatorial Guinea | On February 13, 2023 the health ministry of Equatorial Guinea has declared a Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) outbreak. MSF is in the country to support and asks your assistance by improving map data in the country. | Remote mapping via HOT Tasking Manager. | See here whole campaign and instructions. | #hemorrhagicfevergnq | |
| Ongoing | March 2023 | May 2024 | Masisi territory, Democratic Republic of the Congo | In this area of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, MSF is providing medical support to the population who is suffering from ongoing violence. Improved maps will support the MSF team in a variety of activities: from security management, over disease outbreak management to the planning of primary health care activities. | Remote mapping via HOT Tasking Manager. | See here whole campaign and instructions. | #masisi23 | |
| Ongoing | January 2023 | August 2024 | Mangochi district, Malawi | Cholera last broke out in Malawi in 2016. The disease re-appeared in March 2022, primarily affecting districts around Lake Malawi. Please help mapping the area to support MSF its activities. | Remote mapping via HOT Tasking Manager. | See here whole campaign and instructions. | #mangochidistrict |