Skip to main content
Treating multi drug resistant TB and HIV/AIDS in Manipur, India

Access to medicines

Unaffordable, unavailable, not adapted - people around the world face these challenges in accessing lifesaving medicines.

During the 1990s, MSF teams made a bitter observation: we were failing to treat some of our patients suffering from infectious diseases, while in developed countries, remarkable progress was being made in the field of health. Two decades on, medicines in developing countries are still either too expensive, aren't suitable to be used in many of the contexts in which we work (for example, in hot, humid conditions or where there's a lack of electricity), or simply don't exist for the diseases we need to treat.

In 1999, we launched the Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, now known as the Access Campaign. Its mission focuses on three areas: overcoming barriers to access to essential medicines, stimulating research and development for neglected diseases, promoting health exceptions to global trade agreements.

In 2003, MSF joined several research institutes, including the Institut Pasteur, to create the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a non-profit research and development organisation engaged in research and development of new treatments for neglected diseases.

 
Website

MSF Access Campaign

msfaccess.org
 
Northeast Syria COVID-19 | Raqqa Hospital Medical Care
Access to medicines

“Broken” humanitarian COVID-19 vaccine system delays vaccinations

Press Release 27 Apr 2022
 
Access to medicines

Access to medicines project survey results

Report 29 Sep 2021
 
Tackling COVID-19 in Lebanon, through prevention and vaccination
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

European Union: more empty promises about global COVID-19 vaccine equity

Project Update 15 Sep 2021
 
Addressing the ocean of gaps in the treatment of tuberculosis in children and adolescents
Access to medicines

Lifesaving TB medicines still out of reach for children in high-burden countries

Press Release 3 Sep 2021
 
MSF's clinic in Arsal
Lebanon

Healthcare system in Lebanon disintegrates as political vacuum persists

Project Update 1 Sep 2021
 
MSF-WTO_Aerial
Access to medicines

Countries obstructing COVID-19 patent waiver must allow negotiations to start

Press Release 9 Mar 2021
 
Eshowe Rural COVID-19 Response
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

Southern Africa needs the right COVID-19 vaccines, at the right price – right now

Press Release 18 Feb 2021
 
TRIPS Waiver Embassy Protest
Access to medicines

MSF urges wealthy countries not to block COVID-19 patent waiver

Press Release 3 Feb 2021
 
Mozambique - Jose Macamo Project - HIV
Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic

Ravaged by new strain, southern Africa must get COVID-19 vaccines

Press Release 3 Feb 2021
Up Next
30 August 2019