WHO Good Governance for Medicines Programme Conducts the Second Inter-Regional Training Workshop on Assessment of National Medicines Programmes - ZAMBIA

8th April, 2008

Lusaka - The World Health Organization Good Governance for Medicines Programme is conducting the second inter-regional training workshop for national assessors on good governance for national medicines programmes in Lusaka from 8th - 10th April 2008. The participants are drawn from eight countries from Africa, Central America, Europe and the Middle East. The workshop is aimed at orienting countries on the Good Governance for Medicines Programme and to increase awareness about the negative impact of corruption on the functioning of pharmaceutical systems and to assist countries in developing action plans for conducting a national assessment. The training will be conducted using a WHO instrument for assessing the level of transparency and potential vulnerability to corruption in the public pharmaceutical sector in key areas such as registration of medicines, control of medicines promotion, inspection of establishments, selection and procurement of essential medicines, distribution of medicines, and conduct of clinical trials. The assessment by countries will be conducted between April and September 2008, the results of the assessment in each country will be used to develop a framework for implementing a national programme on good governance in the pharmaceutical sector.

The workshop was officially opened by the Director General of the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority Ms Esnart Mwape on behalf the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health. She called upon all the participating countries to use this opportunity to develop strategies that will address corruption in the pharmaceutical services in order to improve the availability of, standard, safe and efficacious drugs in both the public and private healthcare delivery systems.

Dr. Guitelle Baghdadi-Sabebi from WHO in Geneva stated that the Good Governance for Medicines programmes is aimed at curbing corruption in medicines regulation and supply in the pharmaceutical sector systems through the application of transparent, accountable and administrative procedures and the promotion of ethical practices among health professionals. She emphasized that overcoming corruption in the pharmaceutical sector requires a dynamic, long-term strategy and implementation of good governance and that national assessment is an entry point for development of a national programme on good Governance for Medicines.

The WHO Representative Dr. Olusegun Babaniyi thanked the Government of the Republic of Zambia for hosting this important workshop. He emphasized that at country level, WHO is committed to collaborating and supporting Governments in all areas of medicines management in order to protect populations from unsafe, substandard, and counterfeit drugs and vaccines which are harmful to health and undermine people’s confidence in health services.

The training workshop is sponsored by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Commission. The countries represented are Cameroon, Costa Rica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon Kenya, Moldova, Morocco, Philippines, Syria and Tunisia. A total of 27 countries are currently implementing the Good Governance for Medicines Programme since the programme was launched in 2004 within the framework of the WHO Medicines Global Strategy for 2004-2007.

For more information Please contact:

Nora Mweemba, Health Information and Promotion Officer.
WHO Country Office,UN ANNEX BUILDING Plot 4609,
Corner of Andrew Mwenya and Beit Roads, Rhodes Park,
P.O. Box 32346, Lusaka, Zambia.
E-mail: mweemban [at] zm.afro.who.int (mweemban[at]zm[dot]afro[dot]who[dot]int),
GPN: 37609, Tel No: 00-260-1-255 398 / 255 336 / 255 322,
Mobile 0977873976, Fax: 00-260-1-252863