Both the EU and the U.S., the world's two major drug producers, have offered drug-patent proposals that are far more restrictive than those favored by developing countries and many nongovernmental organizations. Developing countries want access to a wider range of drugs, while a large coalition of NGOs is pushing to allow any poorer country to contract for delivery of patented medicines from whomever it chooses.

This article first appeared in the THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Project Update - 14 Nov 2002

United States of America

Drugs for the poor

The Bush administration is resisting the lobbyists' extremism, but it still listens to the industry more than it should. The US president's trade representative, Robert Zoellick, needs to soften the US positions at today's WTO meeting. From a policy point of view, there is no good argument for allowing patents to restrict access to medicine in poor countries and those just climbing out of poverty. Project Update - 14 Nov 2002

Refugees, IDPs and people on the move

Border Stories: Imagine leaving your home and never coming back

MSF is presenting 'Border Stories', an exhibition of objects belonging to ten of the world's refugees. Project Update - 17 Oct 2002

Mental health

Mental health care crucial in emergency situations

A recent article published on September 6, 2002 in the National Post (Canada) questioned the usefulness of trauma counseling. For Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), psychosocial programmes are not only an essential response to human suffering but are part of an integrated approach for medical care. Project Update - 14 Oct 2002

Angola

Survival of thousands of Angolans constantly threatened

MSF teams are still trying to reach remote locations where there is word of more displaced, but access is extremely difficult: mines, destroyed bridges and armed robbery constantly threatens access to these civilian populations who exist in a state of mere survival. Project Update - 5 Aug 2002

Access to medicines

The 90/10 divide

The development of drugs is so skewed towards the needs of rich countries that only 1% of new treatments developed over the past 25 years were for diseases such as malaria, sleeping sickness, and tuberculosis, found mainly in the developing world. Project Update - 1 Aug 2002

Russia

Chechen displaced: MSF open letter to OCHA

In an open letter to the head of the Organisation for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, MSF calls for the United Nations to address the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Ingushetia and Chechnya. Project Update - 30 Jul 2002

Russia

Chechen displaced remain under pressure

With life becoming more unbearable every day, the Chechen displaced are left with two choices: live in a twilight zone as an unregistered displaced person, or accept returning to an unsafe and devastated Chechnya. Project Update - 26 Jul 2002

Liberia

Increased violence in Liberia brings new exodus

MSF is sending specialists to Guinea to assist the field teams and to advise on humanitarian issues, in order to provide refugees and the displaced with some legal protection, along with the medical care already in place. Project Update - 26 Jul 2002

HIV/AIDS

First round of payments from the Global Fund

In her May 4 news item, Sarah Ramsay reports that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria falls lamentably short of the US$7-10 billion per year that the UN has estimated is necessary to tackle HIV/AIDS alone. Project Update - 20 Jul 2002

Four mothers posing in a corridor of the Hospital in Bili. All four of them are staying in the hospital with their child, that's suffering from a severe case of malaria. Since the beginning of the project in 2016, the pediatric ward already treated more than 4.000 cases of complicated/severe form of malaria.

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We provide medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare. Our teams are made up of tens of thousands of health professionals, logistic and administrative staff - most of them hired locally. Our actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of independence and impartiality. We are a non-profit, self-governed, member-based organisation.

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Expect progress to be tough at WTO summit on drugs