MSF Analysis is a platform for the dissemination of material on the politics of health and humanitarianism provided by the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Analysis Department based in the Operational Centre Brussels as well as from guest contributors. This website is intended to stimulate reflection and debate on humanitarian topics organised around the themes of migration, refugees, aid access, health policy and the environment in which aid operates.
While the views expressed on this website do not necessarily reflect the official position of MSF, they are based on analysis derived from the organisation’s experience working in over 70 countries worldwide.
Contributions to this website are primarily made by a core group that works in reflection, analysis and advocacy with the MSF Operational Centre Brussels. This group – profiled below – also makes up the informal editorial committee that receives guest contributions.
If you would like to submit an article or have any questions regarding the content found on this website, please contact msf-analysis@msf.org.
Core Contributors
Aurélie Ponthieu has been working for the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) since 2006. She is currently Director of the Analysis Department at MSF in Brussels where she manages a team composed of humanitarian specialists in the areas of health politics, forced migration, conflict and humanitarianism and negotiated access. Her area of expertise includes forced migration and the humanitarian impact of asylum and migration policies. She provides support to MSF operations in terms of context analysis, positioning and advocacy strategies.
Before working at MSF Headquarters in Brussels, she has worked in MSF Operations for several years in Niger (2006), Sudan (2007-2008), Chad (2008), Colombia (2009) and Haiti (2010). She also been sent to support emergency interventions during Ebola outbreaks in Liberia (2014) and the DRC (2019). In 2020 she worked on the covid-19 pandemic, advising the MSF emergency response in Brussels and as an Emergency Coordinator in Ecuador.
Aurelie can be found on Twitter @PonthieuAurelie.
Michiel Hofman is Senior Humanitarian Specialist for MSF. In this role, he concentrates on research, training and operational support as well as publications in the humanitarian field.
He worked for MSF in field missions between 1993 and 1998 as Emergency Coordinator and Head of Mission for MSF in Liberia, the DRC, Bosnia, Burundi, Sri Lanka, Brazil, South Sudan and Kosovo. Between his missions he returned to his former career as freelance journalist.
Between 1999 and 2001, Michiel co-founded The Antares Foundation, a Dutch non-profit organisation which supports local NGOs in providing psycho-social support for staff working in high-stress environments.
Michiel returned to MSF in 2001, working as Country Director in Russia and Operations Director in Amsterdam and Country Director for Afghanistan.
Christopher Stokes is currently working as the Emergency Coordinator in Ukraine for Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Operational Center in Brussels (OCB). He has been in Ukraine since February 2022, arriving initially to help prepare in the event of an escalation of fighting and then coordinating MSF’s medical humanitarian response to the war.
Christopher is a senior humanitarian advisor and coordinator of the Conflict & Humanitarianism Team of the Analysis department, covering a range of contexts including Afghanistan, Yemen, and the Gaza Strip in addition to cross-cutting files. Between 1993 and 2001 Mr. Stokes worked for MSF in multiple field assignments including serving as Head of Mission in Angola, Indonesia/East Timor, Kosovo, Rwanda, Afghanistan, and in Russia/Chechnya during the first Chechen War. Between 2001 and 2007 he was the Director of Operations for MSF OCB, from 2007 until 2008 he was MSF’s International General Secretary, and from 2008-2018 he served as the General Director of MSF OCB.
Dr. Mit Philips is a medical doctor with a Master degree in Public Health in developing countries from the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 1993 and a diploma in Tropical Medicine in 1985 in Antwerp. Before being based in Europe, Mit Philips worked and lived abroad during 15 years in Africa (Chad, Angola, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, DRC) and South East Asia (Cambodia) for Médecins Sans Frontières.
She works for MSF in Brussels since 1999, first as Director of Operations, and since 2003 as health policy and medical advocacy advisor in the General Directorate. Her main focus of work at MSF concerns HIV/AIDS, health financing and financial barriers to health care, global health and health systems policies.
From 2010 to 2012 she was also part of the team of Health Policy and Planning at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium (2010-2012), with a focus on global health policies and health in fragile states.
Reem Mussa is a humanitarian advisor and coordinator of the Forced Migration Team in MSF’s analysis department. Based in Brussels, Reem focuses on the humanitarian and health impacts of displacement, as well as asylum and migration policies. She supports MSF operational teams with humanitarian analysis and advocacy specifically for operations in Southern and Northern Africa, the Pacific Region, and Europe, including MSF’s emergency interventions in response to Ukrainian displacement. Reem is a member of the Lancet Migration European Hub and is the co-chair of the Borders and Health working group.
Sandrine Tiller is the Coordinator of the Humanitarian Access and Networking Team at MSF’s Brussels Operational Centre. Sandrine joined Médecins Sans Frontières in 2011 and worked as a Humanitarian Representative to the UK Government; Strategic Adviser to the Moscow office; and has been an analyst on the humanitarian aid system and the challenges posed by mis and disinformation. She most recently was seconded to support MSF’s Operations in Ukraine for two months.
Previously she worked with grassroots organisations in Venezuela, UN Volunteers in Eritrea and Tanzania, the British Red Cross in London, and the ICRC in Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories, Geneva and Lebanon.
Jonathan preceded Aurélie as director of the Analysis department, between 2017 and 2021. He previously established and headed the organisation’s Programmes Unit in his home town of Johannesburg, South Africa. Following this he was involved as an Emergency Coordinator in MSF’s medical humanitarian responses in Libya, Bahrain and Syria. He has contributed to academic journals and newspapers on the politics of humanitarian aid.