Global health review | MSF UK

7 March 2025

This week, In PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, MSF and DNDi conducted an interview-based investigation on patient awareness, experiences, and challenges in accessing visceral leishmaniasis (VL) diagnosis and treatment in Bihar, India. The findings revealed barriers including limited community awareness, financial strain from lost work and travel costs, underscoring the need to address gaps in public health access to support India’s National Elimination Program for VL. In The Lancet Infectious Diseases review series on Ebola care, authors including MSF highlighted advances in diagnostics, treatment unit design and social science integration into outbreak responses. Future priorities include expanding near-patient testing, improving care communication, refining clinical trials and addressing stigma that hinders survivor reintegration.

In Clinical Microbiology and Infection, MSF examined inequitable antibiotic access, highlighting gaps in clinical evidence, registration, pricing for Reserve antibiotics and supply chain issues that disproportionately affect antimicrobial resistance (AMR) burdens in low- and middle-income countries. They propose a multi-stakeholder approach involving public–private partnerships to improve access through research and development, regulatory pathways, procurement and financing. In The Lancet Global Health, an observational study conducted in five district hospitals in India found a high incidence of culture-positive sepsis, high case fatality rates and an alarming degree of AMR among neonates. The findings underline an urgent need for better infection control, context specific sepsis management, antimicrobial stewardship, and blood culture diagnosis facilities in India’s district hospitals.

In Conflict and Health, a cross-sectional study investigated healthcare access and utilisation among internally displaced people in Sudan finding challenges with affordability, transportation, and limited healthcare personnel. Longer displacement and time spent in camp links to poorer access, higher healthcare costs, and lower quality of life. It was underlined that strategies should focus on context-specific interventions, such as mobile clinics and community health workers, to deliver essential services in remote and underserved areas. The BMJ reported in light of the war and effects of cuts in Aid funding that MSF has set up two clinics and a field hospital in the camp, where a childhood vaccination campaign found that 34% children had acute malnutrition. It was highlighted that the war in Sudan is a war on people, with civilians subjected to horrific violence, causing one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.

Best regards,

Zhi Wei Ching, Lydia Lampiri, Madeleine Baxter and Holly Baker with MSF-authored article assistance from Amelia Zhao.

All MSF-authored publications can be found on the MSF Science Portal, as well as recordings, abstracts and posters from the MSF Scientific Days 2024 conference.