James Keogh/Wostok Press

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) frequently publishes updates, press releases, and other forms of communication about its work in more than 60 countries around the world. See the list below for the most recent updates or search by location, topic, or year.

Press release

International Chagas Day: MSF Launches Campaign to Raise Awareness

April 14, 2018

The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) launched the awareness campaign "A big heart is not always a good thing" for International Chagas Disease Day today. The initiative aims to raise public awareness of a neglected disease that affects the health of more than 6 million people around the world, especially in Latin America where it is endemic.
Press release

Drug to Treat Chagas Disease to Become Available in the U.S.

August 31, 2017

Pharmaceutical company Chemo Group announced today that it will make a drug to treat the neglected tropical disease Chagas available to people in the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug, benznidazole, means that Chagas pediatric patients in the U.S. could receive access to a therapy that Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been using for decades to treat people living with Chagas across Latin America.

Press release

Bolivia: Doctors Without Borders Ends Chagas Operations, Urges Ministry of Health to Take Over Comprehensive Care in Rural Areas

December 20, 2016

NEW YORK, DECEMBER 20, 2016—After 14 years of Chagas diagnoses, treatment and prevention efforts in Bolivia, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ended its Chagas operations today by presenting Bolivia’s Ministry of Health with an operating manual for managing Chagas disease in rural areas.
Press release

Response by Judit Rius, MSF-USA Access Campaign Manager, to KaloBios’s Sustained Push to Buy Chagas Drug

March 10, 2016

Judit Rius Sanjuan, Access Campaign manager & legal policy advisor at Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), made the following statement after KaloBios Pharmaceuticals obtained bankruptcy court permission to keep pursing a drug that could receive a US Federal Drug Administration Priority Review Voucher (PRV).

MSF Statement on KaloBios Plan to Raise Price Of Drug To Treat Chagas Disease

December 12, 2015

The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is concerned with the recent announcement that KaloBios has acquired rights to benznidazole, the drug MSF uses to treat Chagas disease in Latin America. KaloBios has announced its intent to register the drug in the United States to obtain a U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) Priority Review Voucher (PRV), and then charge a high price.
Press release

International Chagas Day: MSF begins work in Monteagudo in Chuquisaca, Bolivia

April 14, 2015

SUCRE, BOLIVIA/NEW YORK—Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is launching a new project to ensure that people can be diagnosed and treated for Chagas disease in the town of Monteagudo, in the Chuquisaca department of southern Bolivia. In partnership with local health care institutions, the international medical humanitarian organization will develop a comprehensive care model for primary and secondary care that will be integrated into the existing health care system.
Video

Care for Neglected Chagas Disease Now Available in Oaxaca State, Mexico

November 19, 2014

Chagas disease is a deadly parasitic disease rife throughout Latin America. Since Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the health authorities instituted a treatment program, 43,000 people in Oaxaca State now have access to care for the disease.
Video

Diagnosis and Treatment of Chagas Disease in Mexico

October 06, 2014

 

Chagas disease is a parasitic illness transmitted by the bite of the vinchuca bug; it is found almost exclusively in the Americas. Without treatment, Chagas can eventually progress to fatally damaging the heart, and the nervous and digestive systems. A neglected disease, many people never learn that they have Chagas. Those who do face onerous treatment - there has been little research and development for better drugs.
Press release

New Promise for Diagnosing Chagas Disease

June 10, 2014

MSF and WHO Study Shows Rapid Diagnosis Now Feasible Without a Lab
Slideshow

Paraguay: Standing up to Chagas

April 13, 2012

Chagas is a neglected disease that affects between eight and ten million people, mainly in Latin America. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) works in Paraguay's rural Chaco region, going into isolated communities to educate people about the disease and screen them for it. Internationally, MSF fights to improve access to diagnosis and treatment for the disease and advocates for more research and development into its treatment.

All photos by Anna Surinyach