Access to medicine and medical care

MSF continually calls on governments, pharmaceutical companies, researchers, and other health actors to place lives before profits and commit to making essential medicines available and accessible to the patients around the world who need them most.

Unfortunately, the global medical supply system is mostly driven by the interests of the for-profit pharmaceutical industry. As a result, pharmaceutical companies rarely share the health priorities of MSF’s patients and their communities. Often, companies do not consider the medical needs of lower-income countries and at-risk global populations profitable enough to invest in.

As a result of this system of profit-before-public health, millions of people around the world face life-threatening health risks for which effective medicines are not available. There is a critical need for new drugs and health technologies that can meet their needs.

Drug companies hold patents, giving them a monopoly on treatments. Drug patent systems can be manipulated and abused, limiting market competition and blocking affordable alternatives. Patent laws and regulations limit the places where urgently needed drugs can be used.

Access to medicines and tests for people everywhere, not just in wealthy countries, can save more lives and prevent deaths. Many geographic factors present persistent barriers to accessing health care. Sometimes, people’s access to affordable medicines is limited by provisions in trade agreements. Other factors that can cut people off from care include armed conflict, international sanctions, natural disasters, and harmful, exclusionary social policies.

In many of the contexts in which MSF works, infrastructure is limited or even nonexistent, presenting challenges in our ability to reach patients. With more than 50 years of experience working in challenging conditions, we’ve worked hard to find ways to deliver what our teams need, wherever needed, when they need it.

For example, in natural disasters, when roads become inaccessible, we can turn to alternative forms of transport such as helicopters or boats. We’re also prepared with tools to deploy rapid relief, which include surgical kits, prepacked relief items, or even entire mobile hospitals.

We also work hard to meet or adapt logistical needs while providing high-quality care. For example, some medicines, such as vaccines and insulin, must be kept cold while they’re transported through jungles or across deserts to reach remote communities. In one joint study, MSF was able to show that a range of insulins could be stored at warmer temperatures without becoming less effective, making it easier for people with diabetes who live in places without reliable access to refrigeration—such as refugee camps and other low-resource settings—to maintain treatment.

In response to the need for better treatments, vaccines, and diagnostic tests, MSF set up its Access Campaign in 1999 to improve care for patients.

Every day, MSF teams see the lack of good medical tools available to them and the people they treat. Medical teams report back about their patients’ needs, and we respond by analyzing the barriers to providing treatment and look for solutions. MSF's Access Campaign works to push for price cuts to treatments, keep a close watch on medical advances, steer the direction of medical treatment to urgent, unmet needs, and advocate for the health needs of the communities we serve.

In 2003, MSF joined forces with six other organizations around the world to establish the Drugs For Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), with the aim of developing new drugs or new formulations of existing drugs for patients suffering from the most neglected communicable diseases.

This was a significant step in our effort to align drug development more closely with patient needs. By doing things differently, we aim to deliver medical tools that are more affordable, innovative, and effective in the places where we work. Today, DNDi is a collaborative, patient-centered nonprofit that has achieved significant progress. DNDi has delivered seven new treatments for malaria, sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, and pediatric HIV/TB coinfection, among other diseases.

In addition to our humanitarian medical work, MSF has also produced important research based on our first-hand experience with vulnerable populations.

In 2021, we launched the Science Portal, a “one-stop shop” where users can find the expert content that emerges from the hundreds of research studies and analyses we do each year.

All of this shared knowledge is aimed at improving patient care and advocating for evidence-based policy and practices. We also highlight specific medical topics and our work in ongoing crises.