Posts tagged medicine

Somebody Help: The Forgotten Population in North Darfur In the remote Jebel Si area of North Darfur, MSF runs a hospital, five health posts, and a mobile clinic. These are the only health facilities in the area, and they serve a permanent population of 100,000, as well as about 10,000 seasonal nomads. The majority of MSF’s patients in Jebel Si are women and children. But now a series of obstacles threaten to seriously hamper MSF’s ability to deliver medical assistance. Vital medical and logistical supplies have been prevented from reaching the area, work permits have not been granted, and physical access to the region has become increasingly difficult. As a result of these obstacles, MSF has been forced to scale down its activities dramatically. Unless urgent steps are taken to rectify the situation, the people of Jebel Si will be faced with the reality of a future without essential health care.Photo: An MSF staff member checks a child for malnutrition in Jebel Si, where obstacles threaten the continued operation of MSF’s health posts, the only such facilities in the area. Sudan 2012 © MSF

Somebody Help: The Forgotten Population in North Darfur

In the remote Jebel Si area of North Darfur, MSF runs a hospital, five health posts, and a mobile clinic. These are the only health facilities in the area, and they serve a permanent population of 100,000, as well as about 10,000 seasonal nomads. The majority of MSF’s patients in Jebel Si are women and children.

But now a series of obstacles threaten to seriously hamper MSF’s ability to deliver medical assistance. Vital medical and logistical supplies have been prevented from reaching the area, work permits have not been granted, and physical access to the region has become increasingly difficult.

As a result of these obstacles, MSF has been forced to scale down its activities dramatically. Unless urgent steps are taken to rectify the situation, the people of Jebel Si will be faced with the reality of a future without essential health care.

Photo: An MSF staff member checks a child for malnutrition in Jebel Si, where obstacles threaten the continued operation of MSF’s health posts, the only such facilities in the area.
Sudan 2012 © MSF

MSF Blogs: TB&ME TB&ME is a collaborative blogging project by patients being treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and MSF in locations all around the world. They write about their experiences living with MDR-TB and the treatment that they receive. This treatment can often involve taking upwards of 20 pills a day for 24 months and suffering many painful side effects from the toxic drugs. TB&ME gives MDR-TB patients an opportunity to tell the world about the issues that affect their lives, about how treatment and services could be improved, and how it feels to have this disease. It also provides an opportunity for patients to tell the world that MDR-TB exists in their own words, that it is a global problem and to share their experiences with others who might be in the same position.Photo: South Africa 2011 © Samantha Reinders Phumeza, an XDR-TB patient and TB&ME blogger in South Africa

MSF Blogs: TB&ME

 TB&ME is a collaborative blogging project by patients being treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and MSF in locations all around the world. They write about their experiences living with MDR-TB and the treatment that they receive. This treatment can often involve taking upwards of 20 pills a day for 24 months and suffering many painful side effects from the toxic drugs.

TB&ME gives MDR-TB patients an opportunity to tell the world about the issues that affect their lives, about how treatment and services could be improved, and how it feels to have this disease. It also provides an opportunity for patients to tell the world that MDR-TB exists in their own words, that it is a global problem and to share their experiences with others who might be in the same position.

Photo: South Africa 2011 © Samantha Reinders
Phumeza, an XDR-TB patient and TB&ME blogger in South Africa

Alarming Scale of Multidrug-Resistant TB Requires Rapid Response Alarming new data suggest that the global scope of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is much more vast than previously estimated, requiring a concerted international effort to combat this deadlier form of the disease, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders announced today. “Wherever we look for drug resistant TB we are finding it in alarming numbers, suggesting current statistics may only be scratching the surface of the problem,” said MSF president Dr. Unni Karunakara. “And with 95 percent of TB patients worldwide lacking access to proper diagnosis, efforts to scale up detection of MDR-TB are being severely undermined by a retreat in donor funding— precisely when increased funding is needed most.” Photo: India 2012 © Bithin Das Some of the drugs, part of a long, difficult regimen, that MDR-TB patients must take

Alarming Scale of Multidrug-Resistant TB Requires Rapid Response

Alarming new data suggest that the global scope of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is much more vast than previously estimated, requiring a concerted international effort to combat this deadlier form of the disease, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders announced today.

“Wherever we look for drug resistant TB we are finding it in alarming numbers, suggesting current statistics may only be scratching the surface of the problem,” said MSF president Dr. Unni Karunakara. “And with 95 percent of TB patients worldwide lacking access to proper diagnosis, efforts to scale up detection of MDR-TB are being severely undermined by a retreat in donor funding— precisely when increased funding is needed most.”

Photo: India 2012 © Bithin Das
Some of the drugs, part of a long, difficult regimen, that MDR-TB patients must take

Yesterday, Doctors Without Borders joined other demonstrators to protest outside the New York offices of the pharmaceutical company Novartis. The protest was against an attack on India’s patent law by Novartis, a case currently before India’s Supreme Court. If Novartis wins, the production of life-saving generic medicines — including important anti-retroviral drugs for people living with HIV/AIDS — could be adversely affected. TAKE ACTION! Photo: 2012 © Michael Goldfarb

Yesterday, Doctors Without Borders joined other demonstrators to protest outside the New York offices of the pharmaceutical company Novartis. The protest was against an attack on India’s patent law by Novartis, a case currently before India’s Supreme Court.

If Novartis wins, the production of life-saving generic medicines — including important anti-retroviral drugs for people living with HIV/AIDS — could be adversely affected.

TAKE ACTION!


Photo: 2012 © Michael Goldfarb

What the EU is trying to do with this trade agreement is effectively slowly poison the production of affordable generic medicines in India, which has helped keep so many people alive. This trade agreement could target us as treatment providers, simply for buying generic medicines from India to treat patients in our programs.

Piero Gandini
Head of Mission for MSF in India

India has been called the “pharmacy of the developing world” because it produces a large number of high-quality, affordable generic medicines. MSF and other treatment providers also rely on Indian generic medicines to treat other diseases and conditions.

However, a free trade agreement (FTA) currently under negotiation between the European Union (EU) and India could greatly restrict the ability of Indian generic manufacturers to continue producing high-quality, affordable medicines that millions of people with HIV/AIDS and other diseases and conditions rely on to stay alive.

To learn more about the protests and the issue at hand read this briefing on the situation.

For more information also check out MSF’s Access Campaign website.

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011 7. Drug Shortages Threaten Moves to Expand Treatment for Chagas Disease New treatment programs for Chagas are being put on hold because of shortages of benznidazole, the main drug used to treat this neglected parasitic disease. The shortages have been caused, among other factors, by a lack of planning for new production by LAFEPE, Brazil’s state-owned laboratory where benznidazole is manufactured. As a result, MSF has been forced to suspend plans to expand treatment for Chagas in Bolivia, the country hardest-hit, and also had to slow down screening patients for the disease in Paraguay for a period. Photo: Bolivia 2011 © Vania Alves/MSF

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011

7. Drug Shortages Threaten Moves to Expand Treatment for Chagas Disease

New treatment programs for Chagas are being put on hold because of shortages of benznidazole, the main drug used to treat this neglected parasitic disease.

The shortages have been caused, among other factors, by a lack of planning for new production by LAFEPE, Brazil’s state-owned laboratory where benznidazole is manufactured. As a result, MSF has been forced to suspend plans to expand treatment for Chagas in Bolivia, the country hardest-hit, and also had to slow down screening patients for the disease in Paraguay for a period.

Photo: Bolivia 2011 © Vania Alves/MSF

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011 6. An Experimental Scheme to Subsidize Malaria Treatment Gets Off to a Shaky Start Cost is the main reason why many people in Africa aren’t buying a more effective treatment now available for malaria. But a scheme set up to address the issue doesn’t seem to be delivering all the right results. The World Health Organization first stated that medicines based on artemisinin—ACTs—should be used to treat malaria back in 2001, after studies showed widespread resistance had developed to the older drugs, such as choloroquine. However, the newer recommended drugs are considerably more expensive. Public hospitals and clinics throughout Africa now provide the medicines, but these services are not accessible enough everywhere. Many people therefore buy their medicines themselves, often resorting to the cheaper, older drugs that are no longer effective. So the aim of the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm), was to subsidize the prices of ACTs in the private sector where many people get their medicines: in shops and private pharmacies. Photo: Mali 2009 © Barbara Sigge/MSF

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011

6. An Experimental Scheme to Subsidize Malaria Treatment Gets Off to a Shaky Start

Cost is the main reason why many people in Africa aren’t buying a more effective treatment now available for malaria. But a scheme set up to address the issue doesn’t seem to be delivering all the right results.

The World Health Organization first stated that medicines based on artemisinin—ACTs—should be used to treat malaria back in 2001, after studies showed widespread resistance had developed to the older drugs, such as choloroquine.

However, the newer recommended drugs are considerably more expensive. Public hospitals and clinics throughout Africa now provide the medicines, but these services are not accessible enough everywhere. Many people therefore buy their medicines themselves, often resorting to the cheaper, older drugs that are no longer effective.

So the aim of the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm), was to subsidize the prices of ACTs in the private sector where many people get their medicines: in shops and private pharmacies.

Photo: Mali 2009 © Barbara Sigge/MSF

There is a solution to improving HIV treatment and access to that treatment- the Medicines Patent Pool. Here’s how a patent pool could work.

There are over 2 million HIV positive children in the world, 90 percent of whom are in sub-Saharan Africa and only 10 percent of them have access to treatment. Access, as well as the quality of care, must be improved as must diagnostic tools for early intervention and treatment. Without treatment, one third of children with the virus will die before their first birthday. Half won’t live to see their second birthday.

Dear Supporters,

Thank you for joining our call to action urging Johnson & Johnson to license the company’s patents on three lifesaving HIV/AIDS drugs to the Medicines Patent Pool, a mechanism designed to lower prices of HIV medicines and increase access to them for people in the developing world.

Despite continuing to earn record profits and a company credo that calls for putting patients first, on December 19, Johnson & Johnson continued to turn its back on people living with HIV/AIDS in many developing countries by telling the Pool it refused to license its patents on the HIV drugs rilpivirine, darunavir, and etravirine.

Over the past two years, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been urging Johnson & Johnson, and other companies holding HIV drug patents, to take this critical step of joining the Pool. The Pool would license patents on HIV drugs to other manufacturers and the resulting competition would dramatically reduce prices, making them much more affordable in the developing world and allow new combination medicines.

In refusing to join the Medicines Patent Pool, Johnson & Johnson says there is no urgency for making these drugs widely available in developing countries. That’s simply not true. MSF now provides treatment to more than 180,000 people living with HIV worldwide, and is beginning to witness the inevitable, natural phenomenon of treatment failure, whereby people develop resistance to the drugs they are taking and need to graduate to newer medicines.

Furthermore, rilpivirine, darunavir, and etravirine were identified among the key drug formulations needed for HIV treatment by the Medicines Patent Pool, UNITAID and the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS Department.

The fight for our patients does not end here with this announcement from Johnson & Johnson. MSF will continue to press Johnson & Johnson and other companies holding patents on essential HIV/AIDS medicines to join the Medicines Patent Pool.

Ultimately, it is about breaking the double standard of access to essential medicines for patients living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries. For the sake of patients who are resistant to today’s treatment as well as patients of tomorrow who are still waiting for access to improved drugs, MSF will continue to call for real access to affordable medicines.

Thank you to everyone for helping us reach our goal of 8,000 emails to tell Johnson & Johnson to stop turning its back on AIDS patients.

Now we’re trying for 9,000+ emails. Keep spreading the word so that by Monday, December 19, when pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson is expected to announce whether it intends to license its patents on three lifesaving HIV/AIDS drugs to the Medicines Patent Pool, a mechanism designed to lower prices of HIV medicines and increase access to them for people in the developing world, they will see a huge response.

Johnson & Johnson is expected to announce Monday, December 19, whether it intends to license its patents on three lifesaving HIV/AIDS drugs to the Medicines Patent Pool, a mechanism designed to lower prices of HIV medicines and increase access to them for people in the developing world. Over the past two years, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been urging Johnson & Johnson to take this critical step. Johnson & Johnson has so far refused to join discussions on licensing these patents to the Medicines Patent Pool. The Pool has been set up to increase access to more affordable versions of HIV drugs, including fixed-dose combinations that include multiple medicines in one pill, and to develop much-needed pediatric HIV drugs. The Pool would license patents on HIV drugs to other manufacturers and the resulting competition would dramatically reduce prices, making them much more affordable in the developing world. However, since the Pool is voluntary it will only work if patent holders like Johnson & Johnson choose to participate. ACT NOW: Call on Johnson & Johnson to finally join the Medicines Patent Pool

Johnson & Johnson is expected to announce Monday, December 19, whether it intends to license its patents on three lifesaving HIV/AIDS drugs to the Medicines Patent Pool, a mechanism designed to lower prices of HIV medicines and increase access to them for people in the developing world.

Over the past two years, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been urging Johnson & Johnson to take this critical step.

Johnson & Johnson has so far refused to join discussions on licensing these patents to the Medicines Patent Pool. The Pool has been set up to increase access to more affordable versions of HIV drugs, including fixed-dose combinations that include multiple medicines in one pill, and to develop much-needed pediatric HIV drugs.

The Pool would license patents on HIV drugs to other manufacturers and the resulting competition would dramatically reduce prices, making them much more affordable in the developing world. However, since the Pool is voluntary it will only work if patent holders like Johnson & Johnson choose to participate.

ACT NOW: Call on Johnson & Johnson to finally join the Medicines Patent Pool

We expect all companies, including Johnson and Johnson, Abbott, and Merck, to also put their patents in the Pool, just as we hope that countries that don’t benefit from this agreement will use all means, including compulsory licenses, to increase access to HIV medicines for their people
Michelle Childs, policy and advocacy director at MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, on pharmaceutical company Gilead’s first steps into the Medicines Patent Pool for HIV/AIDS drugs. Learn more.
A new diagnostic test for tuberculosis that was endorsed by the World Health Organization in late 2010 could well be a game-changer in the international response to a disease that kills nearly two million people each year. In a recent interview, Dr. Francis Varaine, a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) expert on TB, discusses the potential impact of this new test, which greatly improves the detection of drug-resistant TB, and how it will affect the need for more reliable and better treatment. Today is World Tuberculosis Day, learn more here. Photo: South Africa © Jose Cendon

A new diagnostic test for tuberculosis that was endorsed by the World Health Organization in late 2010 could well be a game-changer in the international response to a disease that kills nearly two million people each year. In a recent interview, Dr. Francis Varaine, a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) expert on TB, discusses the potential impact of this new test, which greatly improves the detection of drug-resistant TB, and how it will affect the need for more reliable and better treatment.

Today is World Tuberculosis Day, learn more here.

Photo: South Africa © Jose Cendon

Now that we have a new test that can detect DR-TB in less than two hours instead of three months, we’re going to see many more people who will need reliable drug supplies to be cured. We need to see some immediate action to resolve these problems and improve access to DR-TB drugs so that more people are started on treatment and transmission of this disease is reduced

Dr. Jennifer Hughes of MSF, in Khayelitsha, South Africa. While drug-resistant TB is on the rise, less than seven percent of 440,000 new cases each year are treated. DR-TB kills 150,000 people annually.

Today is World Tuberculosis Day, learn more here.