access to healthcare

MSF welcomes Indian Patent Office’s rejection of J&J’s application for paediatric formulation of lifesaving TB drug

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Mumbai, 17 July 2024 – On Friday 5 July 2024, the “pre-grant opposition” filed in December 2020 by The Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+) and a Mumbai-based tuberculosis (TB) survivor Ganesh Acharya, and supported by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) was successful: the Indian Patent Office rejected the US pharmaceutical corporation Johnson & … Read more

MSF and Health Justice Initiative welcome J&J’s withdrawal of patents on lifesaving TB drug in South Africa

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The patent withdrawal is a result of an unprecedented investigation by South Africa’s Competition Commission into J&J We welcome today’s news that following the Competition Commission’s investigation initiation into anti-competitive practice, J&J has officially withdrawn its secondary patents in South Africa on the lifesaving TB drug bedaquiline, opening up generic competition in South Africa. Candice … Read more

Secrets Cost Lives: Transparency and access to medical products

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As an international medical humanitarian organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has repeatedly witnessed how the world’s most vulnerable people are left without access to the lifesaving medicines, diagnostics tests and vaccines they need. Ensuring access to these medical products requires access to information throughout their life cycle, from the R&D stages to when … Read more

Danaher continues to charge exorbitant prices for lifesaving medical tests despite urgent demands for price reductions by several Ministries of Health

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Geneva, 17 June 2024 – In September 2023, the US corporation Danaher, which owns diagnostics maker Cepheid, announced a price reduction of the primary GeneXpert test used to diagnose tuberculosis (TB), from US$9.98 to $7.97, amid pressure from TB activists. Since then, officials from the Ministries of Health of Sierra Leone, Ghana, Ukraine, Belarus and … Read more

Lack of hepatitis C care means most Rohingya refugees cannot be cured amid alarming prevalence rates in camps in Bangladesh

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A study carried out by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) indicates that almost 20 per cent of the Rohingya refugees tested in the Cox’s Bazar camps in Bangladesh have an active hepatitis C infection. A blood-borne virus, hepatitis C is a disease that can remain dormant for a long time in those infected. If untreated, it … Read more

Urgent call for Europe to improve treatment access for tuberculosis: Many TB medicines and formulations accessible in lower- and middle-income countries remain unaffordable or unavailable in Europe

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Berlin, 6 June 2024: As the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded a meeting with European health officials and civil society to improve access to tuberculosis (TB) medicines in the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA), Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), along with TB activists, urge European countries to maintain this momentum by taking immediate … Read more

Marking 40 years of humanitarian medical action in Mozambique: Médecins Sans Frontières hosts panel discussion in Maputo

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Maputo, Mozambique – Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) will tomorrow host a panel discussion to reflect on its medical and humanitarian work for the past 40 years in Mozambique and discuss its challenges. Since 1984, MSF has been collaborating with local authorities and communities in Mozambique to respond to emergencies, delivering life-saving medical assistance … Read more

Gavi’s next strategy must make sure to reach the 10 million children in fragile and humanitarian settings who are missing vaccines

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Where are we now? This week, on 6-7 June 2024, the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is meeting in Geneva to approve and endorse the one-page framework for Gavi 6.0, which outlines its strategy for the five-year period from 2026-2030. Gavi, which is funded by public and private donors, was set up nearly 25 … Read more

“Violence, desperation and abandonment on the migration route”: MSF presents its migration report in Mexico and Central America

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Migrants crossing through Mexico and Central America are in an unprecedented state of vulnerability. From the diverse areas of work from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) – medic, mental health, social work, and health promotion – we have been able to confirm the numerous ailments that people experience when making the dangerous journey to the United … Read more

Closed Ports, Empty Shelves: Haiti Urgently Needs Medical Supplies

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Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 21st May, 2024 – Since the end of February, Port-au-Prince has been engulfed in unprecedented violence, cutting off the Haitian capital from the outside world following the closure of the airport and ports. The escalating insecurity has severely disrupted the medical operations of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which has not been able to … Read more