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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
 
Access to medicines

MSF demands from G8 action to increase access to medicines

Press Release 19 Jul 2001
 
HIV/AIDS

Glaxo stops Africans buying cheap Aids drugs

Project Update 2 Dec 2000
 
Global

Top Ten Under-Reported Humanitarian Stories of 1998

Statement 16 Dec 1998
 
Kosovo

Thousands hide in forests, medical personnel targeted and supplies burned

Press Release 9 Oct 1998
 
China

MSF expands its operations into Hubei and Anhui provinces

Press Release 1 Sep 1998
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30 August 2019