Landmark agreement for safe products for Africa

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the African Medicines Agency (AMA), an African Union body, signed a Framework Agreement for Collaboration on Friday, aiming to strengthen regulatory systems and improve access to safe, efficient and quality-assured health products across the African continent, reports the Jurist. The Framework Agreement for Collaboration establishes a partnership between WHO and AMA to advance the harmonisation of legal frameworks across Africa, in addition to supporting the operationalisation of AMA as a continental regulatory institution that oversees access to safe and quality-assured medical products. The agreement addresses longstanding challenges that have hindered African nations’ access to safe and quality health care products, such as fragmented regulatory systems, limited market oversight, limited local manufacturing, and the threat of substandard and falsified medical products. It provides a foundation for joint operational plans over the next three to five years, during which WHO and AMA will work together to ensure that African nations have access to safe and quality medical products.