Driven by a collective vision to expand our efforts to improve access to health care products for people in greatest need, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is implementing a new structure that will replace the MSF Access Campaign and build on its remarkable achievements.
“As we undergo this transition, we continue our work and commitment to getting medicines and urgent health care products to the people and communities who are often denied access to them," says Dr. Christos Christou, MSF international president.
People around the world—the places where MSF works and beyond—face unacceptable levels of suffering because they lack of access to products for health care. Being able to access and afford the right products—vital medical tools—for health care is essential to MSF's ability to provide quality medical assistance to people who need it most.
MSF has a long history of innovation and developing adapted products for communities facing crisis, as well as in challenging unfair practices affecting the availability and pricing of drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines.
Since its launch in 1999, the Access Campaign has fought to tear down structural barriers that prevent medical teams and patients from accessing health care products needed to save lives. The work is a critical part of the implementation of our social mission as an organization.
“Over the coming decade, MSF will redouble its efforts to deliver tangible improvements in access to products for health care, proudly building on the exceptional work that the Access Campaign has done for the last 25 years,” says Dr. Christou.
The new structure will be closer to our medical humanitarian operations in order to better support the needs of communities we assist. Five regional offices (in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Nairobi, Kenya; Dakar, Senegal; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Brussels, Belgium) will work together with our operational teams and patients as well as with our partners and networks. A dedicated internal fund will also be set up to support access-related initiatives throughout MSF.
MSF’s focus is on directly addressing the problems our patients and our operational teams face. We will also continue to work globally to address systemic barriers causing or amplifying these problems. This includes advocating for changes to policies and practices that determine who can or cannot access lifesaving health care products in many of the more than 70 countries around the world where we work.
These changes and evolution are the result of over two years of in-depth consultations with hundreds of MSF staff. This new structure is expected to be operational in January 2025 and will initially focus on continuing key work currently run by the Access Campaign.
MSF remains committed to improving the accessibility, availability, affordability, appropriateness, and quality of health care products for the patients and communities we assist.
