Doctors Without Borders reports a 36% jump in mental health sessions at its Mexico City care centre for survivors of extreme violence, driven by regional insecurity and restrictive U.S. migration policies.
Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) has documented a significant uptick in mental health consultations at its Comprehensive Care Centre (Centro de Atención Integral, CAI) in Mexico City, serving survivors of extreme violence. In the first quarter of 2025, MSF provided 485 individual psychology sessions—a 36% increase over the prior quarter—compared with an average of 300–350 sessions per quarter throughout 2024.
MSF attributes this surge to escalating violence along the migration corridor through Central America and Mexico, where migrants face threats from both organized crime groups and security forces, compounded by recent U.S. policies that have tightened asylum eligibility and extended waiting periods on Mexican soil.
The CAI, established in 2016, offers a holistic package of services including medical care, psychological support, and physical rehabilitation to help survivors reclaim their autonomy. At any given time, the centre admits between 30 and 50 patients—both migrants and Mexican nationals—for three to six months of intensive treatment.
“The difficulty in accessing adequate care makes recovery for many people affected by extreme violence much more arduous,” said Henry Rodríguez, MSF’s general coordinator in Mexico. “In these challenging times of cuts in humanitarian assistance, it is essential to strengthen cooperation between public entities and NGOs to expand access to the few services available”.
Between January 2024 and February 2025, MSF teams operating across Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama treated nearly 3,000 survivors of sexual violence and delivered over 20,000 individual mental health consultations, many precipitated by displacement and threats encountered during migration.
As MSF calls on Mexican authorities and international partners to bolster funding and expand psychosocial support networks, the organization warns that without urgent action, vulnerable populations will continue to endure prolonged trauma with insufficient care options.
