Too often, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) cannot treat patients because the medicines are too expensive or are no longer produced, and no other government or humanitarian organization is looking for a better solution.
Access to essential medicines should not be a luxury reserved for only those who can afford them. This inequity is fundamentally unacceptable.
With your support, MSF can continue to advocate for access to lifesaving treatments—from vaccines to diagnostic tests. Do you agree that health care should not be a luxury?
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Our teams have witnessed firsthand the powerful impact of equitable access to medicines. In the mid-1990s, wealthier countries saw dramatic results when new, effective drugs called antiretrovirals (ARVs) were introduced to treat HIV/AIDS. The death rate fell sharply and steadily in communities where access to these new ARVs were available.
Meanwhile, in lower-income countries, the high prices of ARVs kept the lifesaving medication out of reach for most people living with HIV/AIDS. In the early 2000s, MSF became the first organization to provide ARVs free of charge for HIV patients in several countries, including Guinea and Uganda. In the years since, patients and healthcare advocates have mobilized to demand change, leading to dramatic drops in the price of HIV medicines and allowing millions to receive lifesaving treatment.
We know that if the best medicines and tests are available to people everywhere, not just in wealthy countries, many more lives can be saved. However, people all over the world still struggle today to gain access to all kinds of lifesaving medication. That’s why MSF continues our work advocating for treatments for tuberculosis, sleeping sickness, malaria, vaccine equity, and more.
Our work is far from over. MSF continues to call for better access to lifesaving treatments, and demand that corporations put lives over profit. Are you with us, Friend?
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Gratefully,
Dr. Carrie Teicher
Director of Programs
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières USA |
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