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.
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Gearing up for handover
![intensive care ward at Baraka Hospital intensive care ward at Baraka Hospital](https://img.msf.org/Docs/MSF/Media/CMS3/2/e/d/9/MSB3456.jpg)
Everyday Emergency: Silent Suffering in Democratic Republic of Congo
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Between rhetoric and reality: The ongoing struggle to access healthcare in Afghanistan
Drugs for the Poor, Drugs for the Rich: Why the Current R&D Model Doesn’t Deliver
Clinical Access to Bedaquiline Programme for the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis
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Specialised care for mothers and babies in devastated Tacloban
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Children with tuberculosis must not be neglected
![IDPs in Bossangoa IDPs in Bossangoa](https://img.msf.org/Docs/MSF/Media/CMS3/4/2/8/7/MSB1688.jpg)
Bossangoa remains tense as MSF teams provide emergency medical care
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