Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines
Encyclopedia
The Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines is an international campaign started by Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF) to increase the availability of essential medicines in developing countries
. MSF often has difficulties treating patients because the medicines required are too expensive or are no longer produced. Sometimes, the only drugs available are highly toxic or ineffective, and they often have to resort to inadequate testing methods to diagnose patients.
The lack of research into diseases that affect most of the world’s poor population is known as the 10-90 gap and it occurs because pharmaceutical companies
rarely make a profit when developing drugs for these diseases. Although some countries have created legislation to encourage development of essential medicines, which are called orphan drug
s in the United States
, MSF started this campaign in November 1999 to bring more awareness to the issue, using its prize money from its 1999 Nobel Peace Prize
to fund the project.
MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines is pushing to lower the prices of existing drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tests, to stimulate research and development into new treatments for diseases that primarily affect the poor, and to overcome other barriers that prevent patients getting the treatment they need.
The Campaign is made up of a team of medical, legal, policy and communications specialists working together to tackle these various issues.
to ensure that patents don’t get in the way of access to the medicines patients need.
Médecins Sans Frontières
' , or Doctors Without Borders, is a secular humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization best known for its projects in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic diseases. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland...
(MSF) to increase the availability of essential medicines in developing countries
Developing country
A developing country, also known as a less-developed country, is a nation with a low level of material well-being. Since no single definition of the term developing country is recognized internationally, the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries...
. MSF often has difficulties treating patients because the medicines required are too expensive or are no longer produced. Sometimes, the only drugs available are highly toxic or ineffective, and they often have to resort to inadequate testing methods to diagnose patients.
The lack of research into diseases that affect most of the world’s poor population is known as the 10-90 gap and it occurs because pharmaceutical companies
Pharmaceutical company
The pharmaceutical industry develops, produces, and markets drugs licensed for use as medications. Pharmaceutical companies are allowed to deal in generic and/or brand medications and medical devices...
rarely make a profit when developing drugs for these diseases. Although some countries have created legislation to encourage development of essential medicines, which are called orphan drug
Orphan drug
An orphan drug is a pharmaceutical agent that has been developed specifically to treat a rare medical condition, the condition itself being referred to as an orphan disease...
s in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, MSF started this campaign in November 1999 to bring more awareness to the issue, using its prize money from its 1999 Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
to fund the project.
MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines is pushing to lower the prices of existing drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tests, to stimulate research and development into new treatments for diseases that primarily affect the poor, and to overcome other barriers that prevent patients getting the treatment they need.
The Campaign is made up of a team of medical, legal, policy and communications specialists working together to tackle these various issues.
Malnutrition
The Campaign is calling for improvements to the quality of food aid to meet growing children’s nutritional needs. We are also urging a rapid scale-up in the use and production of Ready-to-Use Foods (RUF) to reduce childhood deaths from malnutrition.Tuberculosis
They are campaigning for new TB drugs and simple diagnostics to be developed while continuing to call to attention the serious underfunding for TB research.HIV/AIDS
The Campaign continues to fight to ensure that patients have access to better and improved HIV treatments as well as further scaling up of treatment.Patent barriers
The Campaign supports the use of flexibilities in world trade rules and the set up of a patent poolPatent pool
In patent law, a patent pool is a consortium of at least two companies agreeing to cross-license patents relating to a particular technology. The creation of a patent pool can save patentees and licensees time and money, and, in case of blocking patents, it may also be the only reasonable method...
to ensure that patents don’t get in the way of access to the medicines patients need.
Medical Research & Development
The Campaign is working to promote alternative ways of steering and funding medical research to meet the medical needs of people in developing countries, rather than market priorities.See also
- Essential medicinesEssential medicinesEssential medicines, as defined by the World Health Organization are "those drugs that satisfy the health care needs of the majority of the population; they should therefore be available at all times in adequate amounts and in appropriate dosage forms, at a price the community can afford."The WHO...
- World Health OrganizationWorld Health OrganizationThe World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
- Department of Essential Drugs and MedicinesDepartment of Essential Drugs and MedicinesThe mission of the Department of Essential Drugs and Medicines of the World Health Organization is "to help save lives and improve health by closing the huge gap between the potential that essential drugs have to offer and the reality that for millions of people -- particularly the poor and...
- WHO Model List of Essential Medicines
- Department of Essential Drugs and Medicines
- Universities Allied for Essential Medicines