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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

DNDi at ten: past success, future challenges

Campaign 16 May 2013
 
Project Update

Global vaccines community must cut costs of new vaccines

Press Release 23 Apr 2013
 
Access to medicines

Patent Opposition Database

Campaign 11 Apr 2013
 
Activists from across Europe stage flashmob in front of the European Parliament
Project Update

EU-India free trade deal puts millions of lives at risk

Press Release 9 Apr 2013
 
India

Indian supreme court delivers verdict in Novartis case

Press Release 1 Apr 2013
 
FTA Protest Delhi - February 2012
India

Under pressure from Europe to sign off on trade deal that will harm access to medicines

Project Update 13 Mar 2013
 
Democratic Republic of Congo

65,000 children vaccinated against measles despite access difficulties

Project Update 3 Feb 2013
 
Project Update

'Decade of Vaccines' blueprint ignores high vaccine prices and lacks ambition

Press Release 24 Jan 2013
 
India

Final hearings begin in Bayer's appeal against Indian move to allow production of more affordable cancer drug

Statement 18 Jan 2013
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30 August 2019