In many of the places we work, especially in low- and middle-income countries, crises like conflict, natural disasters, and poverty make it more difficult to access medicines and medical care. More than half the population of Africa and Asia lack access to essential medicines—about one in four people worldwide.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is committed to ensuring access to lifesaving medicines, from running mobile clinics in remote or crisis-stricken places, to researching and implementing innovative new ways to meet our patients’ needs.

Case Studies

Updating WHO tuberculosis guidelines | Improving access to insulin | Demanding fairer prices for lifesaving TB drug

What are the barriers to expanding access to medicines and medical care?

As a humanitarian medical organization driven by the belief that everyone should have access to essential health services and health coverage, MSF provides critical medical care, free of charge.

Too often, our teams cannot treat patients because the medicines they need are too expensive, not available, or have never even been developed to treat some of the diseases we encounter. Sometimes, the only drugs we have are highly toxic or ineffective, and nobody is developing a better treatment.

Other times, medical care is inaccessible to areas cut off by conflict, natural disasters, or lack of infrastructure. We aim to expand and deliver care of the highest possible standard where other organizations cannot or will not go, advocating for our patients to have access to the medications and tools they need.