Iraq: Displaced people in Laylan camp express fears as camp closes

AMSTERDAM – Early yesterday morning, trucks arrived at Laylan displaced people’s camp, in Kirkuk governorate, Iraq, in preparation for moving residents back to their areas of origin. Camp residents have expressed their fears of being returned against their will to staff from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF, who is providing healthcare in the camp, is deeply … Read more

COVID-19: Governments must support landmark proposal to waive COVID-19 patents

GENEVA – Ahead of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks to consider a landmark request to waive certain intellectual property (IP) during the COVID-19 pandemic – put forward by India and South Africa in October – Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) calls on all governments to support this game-changing step. The IP waiver would allow all countries to choose … Read more

Step UP For TB: Report shows new tests and drugs for world’s deadliest infectious disease remain out of reach

MSF calls on governments and donors to step up and speed up TB testing and treatment Geneva — As the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to derail the global response to tuberculosis (TB), Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) called on governments to accelerate testing, treatment, and prevention for TB, and called on donors to provide the … Read more

Mediterranean migration: Carnage in the Mediterranean is the direct result of European state policies

AMSTERDAM/ PARIS – The last few days have produced one of the most lethal episodes in the central Mediterranean Sea so far this year, with more than 100 people dying at sea in four separate shipwrecks within less than 72 hours. Six NGO rescue ships remain blocked in port by Italian and European authorities, as MSF teams in Libya … Read more

MSF: Governments must demand pharma make all COVID-19 vaccine licensing deals public

Terms of a deal disclosed show that we cannot rely on pharma’s goodwill to do the right thing, even in a pandemic. Geneva, 11 November 2020 – After the worrying terms of a deal struck between pharmaceutical corporation AstraZeneca and Brazilian public research body Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) were disclosed recently, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans … Read more

endTB trial: First patient enrolls for clinical trials of novel, short and all-oral regimens for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in India

Pune, India: Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in collaboration with Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR)- National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) and Department of Health Service, Government of Maharashtra is initiating two major clinical trials that aim at generating clinical evidence on the safety and efficacy of novel, short and all-oral regimens for the most difficult-to-treat … Read more

Access to Medicines: In landmark move, India and South Africa propose no patents on COVID-19 medicines, tools during pandemic

Governments make request to WTO for intellectual property waiver for all countries until herd immunity reached Geneva – In a landmark move, India and South Africa on 2 October asked the World Trade Organization (WTO) to allow all countries to choose to neither grant nor enforce patents and other intellectual property (IP) related to COVID-19 … Read more

Mediterranean migration: Detaining of fifth search and rescue ship in five months condemns people to die at sea

Amsterdam/Palermo – Misuse of maritime law is providing a smoke-screen for a political decision to prevent rescue ships from saving lives in the Mediterranean, declares Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), as the Sea-Watch 4 becomes the fifth NGO ship to be immobilised by Italian port authorities in less than five months. During its maiden … Read more

Spain: MSF calls for urgent measures in care homes to prevent more deaths from COVID-19

BARCELONA – The horrific death toll of elderly people in care homes during the worst months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain should never happen again. It is estimated that the elderly who died in these centres (27,359 between 6 April and 20 June, according to the Ministry of Health) represent 69 per cent of all … Read more

Mediterranean migration: MSF and Sea-Watch announce collaboration to save lives at sea

BERLIN, GERMANY/ BURRIANA, SPAIN – Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is to join Sea-Watch on board the Sea-Watch 4, a new ship bound for lifesaving operations in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The collaboration has been urgently established as European member states brazenly exploit the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to further curtail search and rescue activities, while perpetuating cycles … Read more