Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, is a charity that provides humanitarian medical care. It is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases. The organisation provides care for diabetes, drug-resistant infections, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, tropical and neglected diseases, tuberculosis, vaccines and COVID-19. In 2019, the charity was active in 70 countries with over 35,000 personnel; mostly local doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, logistical experts, water and sanitation engineers, and administrators. Private donors provide about 90% of the organisation's funding, while corporate donations provide the rest, giving MSF an annual budget of approximately US$1.63 billion.
Tropical medicine is an interdisciplinary branch of medicine that deals with health issues that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or are more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions.
The European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) is a partnership between the European Union (EU), Norway, Switzerland and developing countries and other donors, as well as the pharmaceutical industry, to enable clinical trials and the development of new medicines and vaccines against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The need for global action against these diseases in order to promote poverty reduction has been recognised by the United Nations, the G8, and the African Union, and the program envisioned the provision of €600 million for the period 2003–2007 in order to translate medical research results into clinical applications relevant to the needs of developing countries.
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.
James Packard Love is the director of Knowledge Ecology International, formerly known as the Consumer Project on Technology, a non-governmental organization with offices in Washington, D.C., and Geneva, that works mainly on matters concerning knowledge management and governance, including intellectual property policy and practice and innovation policy, particularly as they relate to health care and access to knowledge.
TB Alliance is a not-for-profit product development partnership (PDP) dedicated to the discovery and development of new, faster-acting and affordable tuberculosis (TB) medicines. Since its inception in 2000, TB Alliance has worked to grow the field of available treatments for TB and now manages the largest pipeline of new TB drugs in history. It was founded in Cape Town, South Africa, and has since expanded. It is headquartered in New York City and has a regional office in Pretoria.
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is a collaborative, patients' needs-driven, non-profit drug research and development (R&D) organization that is developing new treatments for neglected diseases, notably leishmaniasis, sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, malaria, filarial diseases, mycetoma, paediatric HIV, cryptococcal meningitis, hepatitis C, and dengue. DNDi's malaria activities were transferred to Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) in 2015.
Human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome in Burma is recognised as a disease of concern by the Ministry of Health and is a major social and health issue in the country. In 2005, the estimated adult HIV prevalence rate in Burma was 1.3%, according to UNAIDS, and early indicators show that the epidemic may be waning in the country, although the epidemic continues to expand in parts of the country. Four different strains of HIV are believed to have originated from Burma, along heroin trafficking routes in northern, eastern and western Burma.
FIND is a global health non-profit based in Geneva, Switzerland. FIND functions as a product development partnership, engaging in active collaboration with over 150 partners to facilitate the development, evaluation, and implementation of diagnostic tests for poverty-related diseases. The organisation's Geneva headquarters are in Campus Biotech. Country offices are located in New Delhi, India; Cape Town, South Africa; and Hanoi, Viet Nam.
The Stop TB Partnership was established in 2001 to eliminate tuberculosis as a public health problem. Its 2000 partner organizations include international, nongovernmental and governmental organizations and patient groups. The secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and, since 2015, has been administered by UNOPS. Previously it was hosted by the World Health Organization.
The Millennium Foundation for Innovative Finance for Health is an independent, non-profit Swiss organization, established in November 2008 in order to create new ways to finance health systems in low- and middle-income countries. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the Millennium Foundation aims to ensure that international commitments on improving health care are met through the development of innovative financing projects. Its first such project – called MassiveGood – was launched on 4 March, and will give travelers the possibility to add a $2, £2 or €2 micro-contribution to the purchase of a travel reservation, with all proceeds going to the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Innovative financing refers to a range of non-traditional mechanisms to raise additional funds for development aid through "innovative" projects such as micro-contributions, taxes, public-private partnerships and market-based financial transactions.
Inder Singh is the founder and CEO of Kinsa. He formerly served as the Executive Vice President of the Clinton Foundation's Clinton Health Access Initiative, a global non-profit organization fighting malaria and other diseases. Singh is known for his work towards improving global health, most notably by brokering the deals announced by former President Clinton that reduced the price of life-saving treatments throughout the developing world, particularly aiding in malaria eradication. Singh is credited with saving over $1 billion in drug costs for developing nations. More than 2.6 million HIV/AIDS patients have received drugs subsidized through CHAI, and more than 30 million malaria patients have received drugs produced at lower cost thanks to CHAI licensing deals.
Guinea faces a number of ongoing health challenges.
The United States Intelligence Community (IC) has a long history of producing assessments on infectious diseases. Most of these papers are distributed to government administrators and inform the choices of policymakers. Three of these assessments stand out as analytical products that have had important impact on the awareness, funding and treatment of infectious diseases around the world. The first paper is the National Intelligence Estimate on the Global Infectious Disease Threat, the second paper is the assessment on the Next Wave of HIV/AIDS, and the third paper was the assessment on SARS. This page summarizes the findings of these three papers and provides information about their impact.
The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) is a Unitaid-backed international organisation founded in July 2010, based in Geneva, Switzerland. Its public health driven business model aims to lower the prices of HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis C medicines and facilitate the development of better-adapted HIV treatments through voluntary licensing and patent pooling. Its goal is to improve access to affordable and appropriate HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis medicines in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In May 2020, the MPP become an implementing partner of the WHO's Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP).
The solidarity tax on airplane tickets is a surcharge on the civil aviation tax which is destined to finance Unitaid. This tax was initially proposed by Presidents Jacques Chirac of France and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil. It was initially adopted by five founding countries during a conference in Paris on September 14, 2005. Nine countries actually implemented this tax: Cameroon, Chile, Congo, France, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger and the Republic of Korea. Norway also contributes through its tax on CO2 emissions.
Cepheid is an American molecular diagnostics company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Danaher Corporation. Its systems automate traditional nucleic acid tests. The tests can be used to identify and analyze pathogens and genetic disorders. Cepheid sells clinical tests for healthcare-associated infections, infectious diseases, sexual health, oncology and genetics.
The Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge, known as I-MAK, is a U.S.-based global 501(c)(3) organization that advocates in the public interest for affordable access to medicines, and a medicines system that is more inclusive of patients and the public.
