On February 28, the United States and Israel launched a major military assault on Iran, including air strikes on the capital, Tehran, and other cities. The conflict is part of a regional escalation that has also affected Lebanon and other countries in the Middle East in recent months.
Now, five months into the crisis, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is responding to an unprecedented demand for health care among refugees, migrants, and other marginalized communities in the country.
“During periods of intensified hostilities and ceasefire, the communities we support often face limited access to medical care,” said Grigor Simonyan, MSF head of mission in Iran. “We have urgently scaled up core medical and mental health services to meet needs that continue to grow.”
Just in the first six months of 2026, MSF teams provided 84,615 consultations — an 80-percent increase compared to the full year of 2025. Our teams also recorded a 50-percent increase in mental health consultations for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. This increase is driven by growing needs and barriers to public health care faced by vulnerable people, including refugees and migrants.
“Consultations spiked during both intensified hostilities and ceasefire periods, prompting MSF to scale up services,” added Simonyan. “While health care services focus on emergency and trauma care in conflicts, mothers still need prenatal care and older people still need non-communicable disease care — especially those who are more vulnerable, with already limited access to health care.”
Adapting services amid conflict
The health system in Iran has faced further strain from repeated escalations of violence since the end of February. This has disrupted the continuity of primary health care services, particularly for communities that already had limited access. MSF has donated medicines and medical supplies to the Iranian Red Crescent Society as well as essential relief items to people impacted by the violence.
MSF ran four projects in Iran between January and June 2026, in Tehran, Mashhad, and Kerman. In South Tehran, MSF provided primary health care through both fixed and mobile clinics. Services included medical consultations, mental health counseling and psychiatric care, sexual and reproductive health, and hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment.
Inside Iran’s growing health care crisis
As violence and instability continue in Iran, many people are struggling to access essential health care — especially refugees, migrants, and vulnerable families.
In Mashhad, a city located near the border with Afghanistan, MSF continued to support refugees and marginalized communities through a fixed clinic, mobile clinics, and outreach to government-mandated drug rehabilitation centers. Our teams provided medical and psychological consultations, follow-up care for non-communicable diseases, referrals, community health promotion, and hepatitis C services for high-risk groups, including people who inject drugs. Recently, MSF extended services to a center providing medical and mental health consultations as well as referral services for the most vulnerable people.
In Kerman, southeastern Iran, MSF has started operating a new primary health care clinic focusing on improving access to health care for refugees and migrants. The MSF clinic offers a package of care including general medical consultations, sexual and reproductive health, mental health, and referrals to hospitals in the area.
Emergency preparedness and response
In February, MSF signed a memorandum of understanding with the Iranian authorities on emergency preparedness and response, with the aim of providing additional support as needed.
In response to growing needs, MSF also launched a second project in southwest Tehran at the end of April, which focuses on primary health care for the general population. While the Ministry of Health and Iranian Red Crescent Society have managed emergency and trauma care, primary and community health services have required more attention. As part of our emergency response, MSF also donated non-food item kits and medical supplies to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, including outpatient department kits, pediatric kits, burn kits, emergency room kits, and surgical kits.
Currently, our team in Iran is finalizing assessments for a potential fifth project, located in Minab, Hormozgan province. The project would focus on primary and mental health care. We are also discussing further response options in Tehran with the relevant authorities.
MSF remains committed to adapting and scaling up our response in close coordination with the authorities.
"As health needs intensify and become more pressing, we are ready to expand our activities further to ensure vulnerable people can access free and independent care," said Simonyan.
