Twenty years ago, MSF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the organisation’s pioneering humanitarian work all over the world. MSF used the prize money to start its Access Campaign. Under the slogan “Medicines shouldn’t be a luxury”, the organisation has been working since then to improve access to medicines, vaccines and diagnostic tools.
Since the Access Campaign began in 1999, many life-saving drugs have been introduced to the market. Today, patients with some diagnoses that represented a sure death sentence 20 years ago can live a full life with their condition. Meanwhile new challenges have arisen, for example increased antibiotic resistance and epidemics such as Ebola. And many of the medicines, vaccines and tests that are being introduced in the market are still inaccessible to poor people.
“In conjunction with this anniversary, we wanted to find a creative way to let people know how high medicine prices are still preventing millions of people from gaining access to life-altering treatments. So we assigned Beckmans Alumni the task of portraying this inaccessibility visually,” says Oliver Schulz, Secretary General of MSF in Sweden.
One current example is the new tuberculosis medicines delamanid and bedaquiline. Both drugs have proved highly effective in treating drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB), a serious form of the disease that poses a growing health threat in many countries. But more than 80 per cent of people with TB who need these new medicines still have no access to them, largely due to their high prices. Instead, most patients are still being treated with older, less effective medicines that may have serious side effects.
“By means of the installation, we also want to increase public understanding of how unfair the profit-driven market for medicines is. Drugs to treat minor disorders in the rich part of the world enjoy priority over life-saving medicines to treat diseases that mainly affect poor people,” Oliver adds.
The result was a luxurious jewellery collection consisting of two necklaces, three pairs of earrings, a barrette and a ring, all moulded in pewter and shaped like medicines.The jewellerypiecesare designed by Julia Jondell, Mira Bergh Edenborg, Matilda Ström Ellow and Kourosh Hekmatara, from Beckmans Alumni.
“Because of this collaboration, we began to reflect about how access to medicines has looked during our lives, here in Sweden. Medicines are available around the corner or even across the street, which is regarded as self-evident and is taken for granted. This is why we felt that the installation needed to deal with this issue in a way that was familiar to ourselves and to people in our immediate surroundings,” says Kourosh Hekmatara, one of the Beckmans Alumni students.
“As designers it was a privilege for us to have the chance to contribute our professional knowledge to a project with MSF. One rarely has the opportunity to work with such an important and concrete issue in a more abstract way.”
The installation will be on display at Nobel Prize Museum until 1 December.
“We are pleased to display the installation, which focuses attention on the issue of people’s right to vital medicines. These works are also related to our new exhibition, ‘For the Greatest Benefit to Humankind’, which shows how science, literature and peace efforts change and improve the world. The Nobel Prize-awarded work of MFS is one example that is highlighted in our exhibition,” says Erika Lanner, Director of Nobel Prize Museum.
If you are interested in doing an interview or have questions, please contact:
Sanna Gustafsson, Strategic Communication Officer, MFS Sweden
sanna.gustafsson@lakareutangranser.se, +46 (0)70 193 73 57
press@nobelprize.org
Read more about MSF’s campaign for everyone’s right to life-saving treatments: https://www.msfaccess.org/about-us
More images are to be found at:
www.mynewsdesk.com/se/lakare_utan_granser/latest_media
About Nobel Prize Museum
The Nobel Prize shows that ideas can change the world. The courage, creativity and perseverance of the Nobel Laureates inspire us and give us hope for the future. Videos, in-depth guided tours and donated artefacts tell about the Laureates and their contributions for the greatest benefit to humankind. Based on the Nobel Prize’s unique combination of fields – natural sciences, literature and peace – we examine the great issues of our time and show how we can respond to them with science, humanism and cooperation. Through our exhibitions, school programmes, lectures and dialogues, we at the Museum would like to generate public engagement for a better world. Today we are located on Stortorget, the main square in Stockholm’s Old Town. In the future we will be creating a new home for the Nobel Prize in the heart of the Swedish capital.
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Photo: Adam Daver
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Photo: Adam Daver
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Photo: Adam Daver
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Photo: Adam Daver
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Photo: Adam Daver
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Photo: Adam Daver
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Photo: Adam Daver
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Photo: Adam Daver