Posted on 3 January, 2013

Photo: A young patient in Tajikistan. Tajikistan 2012 © Natasha Sergeeva/MSF First New TB Drug In 50 Years Approved Must Be Made Widely Available The approval by the US Food and Drug Administration of an important new tuberculosis treatment must lead...

Photo: A young patient in Tajikistan. Tajikistan 2012 © Natasha Sergeeva/MSF

First New TB Drug In 50 Years Approved Must Be Made Widely Available

The approval by the US Food and Drug Administration of an important new tuberculosis treatment must lead to its availability in countries with high levels of the drug-resistant form of the deadly disease, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today.

The new drug, bedaquiline, is the first active agent against tuberculosis to be registered since 1963, and its approval was welcomed by MSF as it marks a major improvement in combating the most challenging forms of TB, which require complex regimes often accompanied by pronounced side effects.

“The first new drug to treat TB in 50 years is an immense milestone,” said Dr. Manica Balasegaram, executive director of the MSF Access Campaign. “The fact that the drug is active against drug-resistant forms of the disease makes it a potential game changer.”

Photo:Migrants in the Gourougou are mostly young men from West Africa who say they had to leave home due to poverty and no hopes of finding a job. In Europe, they say, they have dreams of getting education and earning money to send home to their...

Photo:Migrants in the Gourougou are mostly young men from West Africa who say they had to leave home due to poverty and no hopes of finding a job. In Europe, they say, they have dreams of getting education and earning money to send home to their families. Morocco 2012 © Anna Surinyach

Migrants in Morocco: “We Live Like Prehistoric Men”

In northwestern Morocco, in the forests of Gourougou Mountain, several hundred African migrants are living covertly in remote makeshift camps, struggling to survive, and waiting for an opportunity to enter Europe.

They are mostly young men from West African countries who have left their homes because they had no way to make money and who have left behind family members who are reliant on them, in the hopes of sending back support.

Having gained the trust of these migrants, who hide because they are frequently targeted by the authorities, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) conducts monthly mobile medical clinics to their camps, providing primary health care, distributions, and psychological support.