The harvest is almost in, but MSF continues to admit new patients to its emergency feeding programme in eastern Chad It is early morning, and already hot, when two 4×4 vehicles pull up in front of a small health centre in the village of Angara in eastern Chad. A crowd of women and children huddle … Read more
Groundbreaking Move Sets Precedent for Overcoming Drug Price Barriers Delhi/Geneva – March 12, 2012 – In a landmark case, the Indian Patent Office has issued the first-ever compulsory license in India to a generic drug manufacturer. This effectively ends German pharmaceutical company Bayer’s monopoly in India on the drug sorafenib tosylate, used to treat kidney … Read more
In February 2011, my wildest dreams came true. I had been selected as an infectious disease physician for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and had been posted to Uganda, East Africa. Having always wanted to work in Africa, I jumped at the opportunity. I was to be a “TB doctor” in a remote town called Kitgum. … Read more
“Please don’t miss taking your medicines – the drugs will kill the TB bacteria in your lung. Otherwise the bacteria will grow and multiply and then destroy your entire lung, which will make you very sick. You should try to kill TB before it kills you. The TB that you have is a very strong … Read more
Governments meeting at the World Health Organization’s Executive Board (WHO EB) this week must seize the opportunity to improve serious shortcomings in the ‘Decade of Vaccines’ blueprint that will drive the global community’s vaccines response in the next few years. If they fail to do so, key reasons why children continue to be missed by … Read more
I came to know about MSF in 2005 while doing a community assessment in a remote village in Afghanistan. At the time, MSF was no longer working there, but the community still remembered their effort. I was surprised and did a Google search and found MSF. I was really moved by the mission and vision … Read more
Hello Ajoy, This is Farhat. How are you? I am fine. Whats up? Hmmm… are you interested in South Sudan? They need a water and sanitation expert in Malakal, for an emergency kala azar response. Farhat is the overseas Recruitment Coordinator of MSF India. I didn’t think twice, but said YES straight away. I was … Read more
I arrived in Pakistan in January 2011. After a short briefing in the capital office, I took a plane to Quetta, to my project site, where I met my team. In fact I had met the project coordinator (or PC) already in my previous mission in Nigeria. I also knew many of the national staff, … Read more
I accepted my posting to Tari with a lot of apprehension. But the reality was quite unique. Tari seemed like a hill station – beautiful, lush green, unexplored, unspoilt and wild. It was a pleasure to snuggle into soft blankets at night after a hot shower and wake up gazing at misty mountains. Very unlike … Read more
Natural bounty and manmade poverty: that sums up my experiences in Ivory Coast. This was my second mission with MSF, working as a Medical Doctor. Postconflict Abidjan, where my plane landed, was a wasteland of deserted streets and shut-down shops, as if it was in mourning for the loss of lives and the struggles that … Read more