Doctors without borders is under fire for its decision to shut down Access Campaign as it is seen as a setback for global health advocacy.
Published Jun 22, 2024 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Jun 22, 2024 | 7:00 AM
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) or Doctors without Borders is an international independent medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflicts, epidemics, healthcare exclusion, and natural disasters. It is now under fire for it’s decision to shut down Access Campaign, a move that has sparked widespread criticism from global health advocates.
The decision, which will result in the layoff of approximately 35 permanent staff members by the end of the year, is seen by many as a significant setback for global health advocacy.
Taking to ‘X,’ Leena Menghaney, India head of MSF_access said, “MSF Activisim does not come from a bottle. It is fostered in trust independence and partnerships with civil society and those who live with the disease. The closure of #AccessCampaign is a wound in the heart of global south movements.”
MSF management announced on Tuesday, 18 June that the Access Campaign staff had been informed about the restructuring plans, which include retaining only 17 positions in a new Access to health products unit. Current staff will need to reapply for these roles, with the recruitment process expected to be wrapped up by Septementer. However, the finalisation of job locations migh not occur until October 2025, while the Access Campaign will officially cease operations on 31 December, 2024.
Thirukumaran Balasubramaniam, Geneva representative at Knowledge Ecology International and Managing Director of Knowledge Ecology International Europe took to ‘X’ to say that in Febraury 2022, a letter to the current management team was sent in which they had warned that “diluting or dismantling (its) capacity on access issues would be a mistake of historic proportions” for the organisation.
Former executives of the Access Campaign, including Tido Von Schoen-Angerer and Rohit Malpani, have strongly criticsed the decision. They argue that dismantling the campaign will significantly weaken efforts to increase access to essential medicines and that the pharmaceutical companies will benefit from reduced scrutiny and advocacy against their practices.
This is shocking news to all who understand the work and the extent of the expertise of the @MSF @MSF_access team. https://t.co/AJvOHBr0Fm
— Ellen ‘t Hoen (@ellenthoen) June 20, 2024
Balasubramiam cited from an exclusive report in statnews.com and said that Tido Von Schoen-Angere called the move “mind-boggling,”
Doctors Without Borders is closing its widely regarded access-to-medicines campaign https://t.co/k6u9tP1P6N
— Balasubramaniam (@ThiruGeneva) June 20, 2024
Calling it a “foolish” decision, independent cancer advocate Salome Meyer said, “At a time when the Global South needs it the most. @MSF you will be losing competent skills, knowledge and people with the right mindsets.” She asked the MSF to “think again” about the decision.
Experts emphasise that no other organisation has the financial resources and multidisciplinary expertise that MSF possesses, making it difficult for any group to fill the void left by the Access Campaign.
Meanwhile Hans van de Weerd, senior vice president at RESCUEorg called it “a big mistake”. He took to X and said, “This seems like a big mistake from my former colleagues @MSF, Since its inception @MSFaccess has fought for patients access to mediciens and achieved great successes,”
This seems like a big mistake from my former colleagues @MSF Since its inception @MSF_access has fought for patients access to medicines and achieved great successes. https://t.co/aTFBaKk5aO
— Hans van de Weerd (@hansvandeweerd) June 20, 2024
Advisor to People Vaccine Coalition, Mohga Kamal Yanni called it a “disastrous decision”. She said, “the MSF_access is the cornerstone of the global access movement,” and requested the MSF “please do not take it away. A most fantastic team of experts that no other organisation has. Please revise your decision,” he said.
Melissa Barber, formerly at @MSF_access took to X and said, “The news is out, and well, it’s pretty demoralising. My first job was working for MSF access. My colleagues were the sharpest and most principled people I have ever met–I’ve spent the last decade striving to be even half as wise and effective.”
The Access Campaign had achieved notable successes, such as reducing the cost of Tuberculosis drugs. Balasubramaniam said, “TB triumph: The access” campaign recently played a major role in an effort to drive down the cost of tuberculosis drugs. Its team helped file successful legal challenges against Johnson & Johnson’s patents for bedaquiline in India,” he said.
Doctors Without Borders is closing its widely regarded access-to-medicines campaign https://t.co/k6u9tP1P6N
— Balasubramaniam (@ThiruGeneva) June 20, 2024
Balasubrmanam also added that “The drug maker eventually granted licenses for the UN backed global Drug Facility to supply generic bedaquiline to developing countries at less than half the price it cost previously,”
Melissa Barber said many have written about the MSF access’s impressive list of accomplishments over the years. But their impact she says, “runs deeper than campaigns-if you have tough question, MSF is the end of the line in finding people who know the answer or have the access/network to find the answer,”
The loss of MSF access she says is not a fait accompli: “As @MSF’s Int’l General Assembly meets, I hope folks consider how devastating a blow the loss of a unit that accounts for rounding error of MSF’s budged would be on the viability plus effectiveness of global access to medicines work.”
Meanwhile James Packard Love, Director of Knowledge Ecology International, an NGO working on knowledge governance said, “It is quite distressing that MSF is dismantling its access to medicine team. This is a significant blow to patients living the developing countries who are struggling to gain access.”
Treatment Action Group (TAG) says that without efforts to combat the global power dynamics that determine who lives and who dies of treatable diseases, gross health inequalities will persist.
“The sort of high-quality care delivery central to MSF’s mission is sorely needed, but is more effective in tandem with a strategy to confront overarching structural drivers of health disparities that make those services necessary,” the letter written by Mark Harrington, Executive Director Mark Harrington, Execute Director, Treatment Action Group (TAG) said.
Meanwhile TAG ED Mark Harringon wrote an urgent open letter to MSF urging them to reverse the devastating decision to shutter the MSF Access Campaign. This short sighted move they said undermines the organisations’ shared vision of global health equity.
The letter read, “As longtime allies, frequent coalition partners, and fervent admirers of the MSF Access Campaign, we at Treatment Action Group (TAG) write to you in shock and grief at news of the Access Campaign’s imminent closure.”
Since it’s inception a quarter century ago, the campaign has played a pivotal role in reshaping global and national policies in order to get drugs, dignostics, vaccines and urgent health services to people who need them by targeting systemic barriers to access around the world. “Our organisations’ shared vision of global helath equity will be undermined by this short-sited decision and we urge you to reconsider and change course,” it read.
(Edited by Neena)
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