With 2023 underway, here are some of our plans for the year ahead. We hope you will join us in our work to increase fair access to medicines for all in need.
Our guiding star is to support MSF staff in our projects to be able to provide the best medical care for people who come to us in need, and for others outside our projects too.
How we do this is by bringing together a powerful constellation of people with different talents and experiences, often gathered on the ground in our projects: doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, policy geeks, advocacy shapers, diagnostic advisers, medical-technical specialists, and communications experts.
Together, we investigate and analyse the obstacles that keep affordable medicines, vaccines and diagnostic tests out of the hands of people who need them. We brainstorm and hammer out plans together to overcome these barriers. Once the stars align, we make our move in pursuit of our goal of equitable access to medicines for all.
So, what lies ahead on our journey through 2023?
We will do our utmost to ensure that the principles of affordability, accessibility, equity, transparency and people-centred innovation are integral to our own work and to influence others – so that no one is left behind and everyone has access to the medicines they need.
Here are some of our plans for the year - we hope you will support our work around them:
- Time for $5 – affordable tests for all: We will challenge the diagnostic company Cepheid to reduce the price of critical diagnostic tests to save many more peoples’ lives from a range of diseases.
- Pens for people living with diabetes: We will push for ways to improve the lives of people everywhere living with diabetes through better access to simpler-to-use insulin pens, replacing vials, syringes and needles. This will make it easier for people to control their diabetes and avoid complications of their disease.
- Price drop for key medicine to protect people from HIV infection: This year our staff will begin to roll out a new and effective long-acting medicine that protects people from HIV. Our plan is to work to ensure better access to this medicine so we can prevent infection in many more people.
- Catch-up vaccination for young children: As MSF moves to protect children with ‘catch-up’ vaccination for missed routine vaccinations, we will advocate for changing the rules so that children everywhere can benefit from the protection afforded by these vaccinations.
- Ensuring trade agreements do not undermine access to medicines: Our team will be scrutinising policy texts, and seeking to influence negotiators of trade agreements to ensure they don’t include provisions harmful to people’s access to affordable medicines.
These are just some of the issues we plan to focus on this year, and we would like to share our progress on these and the rest of our work with you – so please follow us on social media and sign up to our newsletter. We look forward to working with you and wish you luck and success in 2023!
