MSF is offering Borders Media Fellowship

There are three grant categories available for applicants to choose from:

• • General Grant (applicants can choose from a range of themes)
    The General Grant supports in-depth reporting across five themes:
    • Tuberculosis
    • HIV
    • Health Impact of Climate Change
    • Women’s Health
    • Impact of Caste on Health

    This grant will enable journalists to highlight and investigate a range of transversal subjects in South Asia through training, insightful storytelling and extensive field exposure. Successful applicants receive a grant to cover reporting costs and get access to experts to enrich the reporting process.
    Please read further details about these five topics and the expected regions of focus, under the Themes section.

  • MSF-DNDi (Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative) Grant on Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and Gender Responsive R&D (ONLY OPEN TO APPLICANTS FROM INDIA, NEPAL, BANGLADESH AND SRI LANKA)
    The MSF-DNDi Grant focuses on raising awareness and fostering a better understanding of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). NTDs such as dengue, lymphatic filariasis, leishmaniasis and mycetoma affect millions of people in South Asia. These diseases are driven by factors like poverty, poor sanitation, lack of adequate treatment and limited healthcare access. This grant is aimed at exploring the complexities of NTDs from the lens of gender, pediatrics and climate change. It emphasizes the need for targeted interventions such as safe, affordable and effective treatment and improved healthcare infrastructure.
    The grant will also focus on critical issues surrounding gender equity in clinical trials, the intersection of gender, climate, and infectious diseases highlighting the systemic challenges faced by women in health research and the urgent need for actionable strategies to address these disparities. Recipients receive financial support for reporting expenses and access to DNDi experts to generate comprehensive reportage.

• MSF-GARDP (The Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership) Grant on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) (ONLY OPEN TO APPLICANTS FROM INDIA)

AMR occurs when bacteria naturally develop resistance to antibiotics, rendering them increasingly ineffective. As a result, infections become difficult or impossible to treat, increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. AMR is already one of the world’s biggest killers, with 4.71 million associated deaths each year, of which 20% are in India. While the predominant AMR narrative so far has explored “excess and inappropriate use of antibiotics” as a key contributor to AMR, “lack of access to the right antibiotics” is a contributor that has largely been ignored. As per the recent findings of the Global Burden of Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) study, AMR-related mortality has remained relatively stable in recent decades, but a sharp rise is now expected, with the number of AMR-related deaths increasing by more than 70% by 2050. The primary reasons behind this sudden surge are the rise and spread of difficult-to-treat Gram-negative infections and a lack of access to effective antibiotics across the globe. According to the GRAM study, more than 50 million deaths could be prevented through improvements to access. The MSF-GARDP grant on AMR is aimed at exploring the theme of access vs excess, from the context of India and LMICs and going deeper into the issue of lack of antibiotic access. The stories could gather insights keeping in mind the complexities of the Indian healthcare system – public vs private; primary vs secondary vs. tertiary; urban vs rural. Recipients shall receive financial support for reporting expenses and access to GARDP experts to generate comprehensive reportage.