Work

Making Hepatitis C History? Médecins sans Frontières, Hepatitis C and Humanitarian Medicine in Cambodia 2016–2021

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This article investigates how a medical non-governmental organisation Médecins sans frontières (MSF) developed and promoted the treatment of Hepatitis C (HCV) in Cambodia. This article is based on an operational archive collected in real time within the MSF mission which was completed with repeated oral history interviews over a period of 5 years across the history of the humanitarian 'mission' between 2016 and 2021. This archive and a historical account produced synchronously revealed the evolution of the role of humanitarian organisations in setting the medical agenda regarding the development of a nation's health priorities. The article argues that such a campaign represents a new development for the history of humanitarian medicine. As an experimental historical project, we aimed to capture how a humanitarian organisation defined its intervention as a 'proof of concept' and developed a public health campaign from a vertical approach reliant on new and very effective treatments.

Source: Social History of Medicine

DOI: 10.1093/shm/hkaf040

Authors: Bertrand Taithe, Mickaël le Paih

Institutions: University of Manchester, Médecins Sans Frontières

Language: English

Topic: History of Medicine and Tropical Health

Subfield: History

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Partnerships for the goals

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,864