About the fellowship
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) South Asia is calling for proposals by journalists, photographers, filmmakers, and newsrooms editors to apply for the 2025-2026 Without Borders Media Fellowship. The fellowship aims to encourage humanitarian and health-related journalism and reporting through scientific storytelling that draws attention to emerging local and cross-border issues in the South Asia region.
Journalists accepted for the fellowship are expected to produce at least one in-depth report by engaging with affected populations and stakeholders. The fellows will have an opportunity to work closely with mentors, who are experts and thought leaders in journalism and public health, as well as medical and operations specialists from the MSF movement.
Stories from the heart of a crisis give a voice to vulnerable people, support medical and humanitarian advocacy, and encourage dialogue on humanitarian values. Fellows will be encouraged to work together, build communities of practice, and support humanitarian actors to better understand crises and contexts, while working with compassion.
Three grant categories are open for applications:
1) General grant
The general grant supports in-depth reporting across five themes: tuberculosis, HIV, health impact of climate change, women’s health, or the impact of caste on health.
This grant will enable journalists to highlight and investigate a range of transversal health subjects in South Asia through training, insightful storytelling, and extensive field exposure. Successful applicants will receive a grant to cover reporting costs and access to experts to enrich their reporting.
2) MSF-DNDi grant on neglected tropical diseases and gender responsive research and development
The MSF-DNDi grant focuses on raising awareness and fostering a better understanding of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), such as dengue, lymphatic filariasis, leishmaniasis, and mycetoma, which affect millions of people in South Asia. These diseases are driven by social and environmental factors including poverty, poor sanitation, lack of adequate treatment, and limited access to healthcare. This grant aims to encourage exploration of the complexities of NTDs through the lens of gender, paediatrics, 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; the systemic challenges faced by women in health research; and the urgent need for actionable strategies to address disparities. Recipients will receive financial support for reporting expenses and access to DNDi experts to support comprehensive reporting.
3) MSF-GARDP (The Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership) grant on antimicrobial resistance
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – also known as antibiotic resistance – is a growing threat worldwide – and already accounts for 4.71 million associated deaths each year, of which 20% are in India. The predominant narrative has explored excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics as a key contributor to AMR, but lack of access to the right antibiotics is a contributor that has largely been ignored. According to recent findings from the Global Burden of Antimicrobial Resistance study, AMR-related mortality has remained relatively stable in recent decades, but a sharp rise is expected, with AMR-related deaths projected to increase by more than 70% by 2050. The MSF-GARDP grant on AMR aims to explore the theme of access versus excess in the South Asian and lower-middle-income country context, diving deeper into issues around access to appropriate antibiotics. Recipients will receive financial support for reporting expenses and gain access to GARDP experts to support comprehensive reporting.
Applications open on 15 May 2025 and close on 15 June 2025.
Photo credit: Matt Bouch-DNDi
