As an international medical humanitarian organisation operating in over 70 countries, Médecins Sans Frontières provides free medical care to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters, and excluded from healthcare.
UN Photo/Christopher Black
Access to healthcare in emergency situations requires rapid response at the national level through guidance, policies, and regulations adapted to context. This should include designated coordination capacity at national levels, earmarked in-country funding, and fast-tracked access to healthcare products such as vaccines and other lifesaving medical tools. In addition, non-state actors must be allowed to provide emergency response healthcare, and to have their health staff and facilities protected.
Member states must uphold International Health Regulations (IHR) and be supported in building the critical capacities needed to ensure the continuity of quality healthcare during emergency situations, including the safeguarding of access to treatment and care for people affected by chronic and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
