30.1 In Focus: Research and Medical Humanitarian NGOs

It is a commonplace belief that medical humanitarian organizations, of which Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors without Borders, have a mission very different from that of research scientists investigating medical interventions against disease. While this may be so to an extent, MSF has also been a leader not only in effective humanitarian action but also in incorporating needed research into its response to infectious disease emergencies. Epicentre is a research organization within MSF that can work with MSF humanitarian staff to facilitate potentially useful research in an emergency, especially as the possibility of generating data for medical countermeasure approval during an emergency has become more realistic in recent years. Epicentre promotes research that is most useful to the disadvantaged populations it often serves, in part because it does not depend on pharmaceutical company or government funding. Moreover, Epicentre is committed to making its colleagues from developing countries full partners in research as in medical care, thus contributing to medical research capacity building—an area that often gets more lip service than investment.