THE presence of substandard and counterfeit products and limited access to affordable and quality medicines continue to be a major challenge to universal health coverage in low and middle-income countries, including Tanzania.
This was a shared concern by health
experts from the European Union (EU) and the coalition of African,
Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of nations and WHO, who have convened
in Zanzibar to take stock of the progress made by a joint five-year
programme to strengthen pharmaceutical systems and access to quality
medicines in 15 ACP countries.
Speaking on the opening day, the
delegates highlighted a myriad of health challenges relating to access
to quality medicines, while stressing the significance of tackling them
in order to achieve the objective of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and
ensure functional and strengthened health systems.
EU representative, Mr Gregoire Lacoin,
in his remarks noted that access to affordable and quality medicines
remains a major challenge in health policy for a number of countries,
most notably developing nations.
“ … limited availability … high prices
and the significant share of false, substandard or counterfeit products
and the associated health threat that they represent, is still a
reality. Strengthened medicines control structures and regulatory bodies
are needed to improve this situation,” charged Mr Lacoin.
He added: “… these challenges must be
addressed comprehensively … through long term and sustainable
engagement, in order to achieve the objective of UHC and ensure
functional and strengthened health systems,” he added.
The EU representative pointed to
adequate funding, policies on training and retaining human resources for
health and access to quality and affordable products, as areas that
should be given priority to improve the situation.
Dr Ghirmay Andemichael, Liaison Officer
at WHO suboffice in Zanzibar said that to achieve universal health
coverage countries need to ensure there is access to quality and
affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
“Ensuring healthy lives and promoting
well-being for all at all ages will require strong national
pharmaceutical systems in governance and accountability, innovation,
manufacturing and trade, pricing and affordability, quality assurance
and responsible use of medicines,” noted Dr Andemichael.
According to WHO, Barriers to accessing
quality medicines in African countries are tied to resource constraints
in the health sector, insufficient skilled staff, weak implementation of
pharmaceutical policies and poorly managed supply chains.
The WHO Liaison officer, Mr Andemichael,
said to address the challenges, a stronger partnership and
collaboration is required with commitment for human and financial
resources from government, private sector and development partners.
He added that the national medicines
policy should ensure an uninterrupted supply of essential medicines that
are efficacious and of good quality and are physically and financially
accessible to all and which are used rationally.
On her part, the guest of honour, Ms
Asha Ali Abdullah, the Isles Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of
Health, acknowledged the need to strengthen health systems by
increasing budgets and putting into consideration the well-being of
health practitioners.
“A good health system requires a robust
financing mechanism, a well trained and adequately paid workforce,
reliable information on which to base decisions and policies, well
maintained facilities and logistics to deliver quality medicines and
technologies as well as appropriate governance and service delivery,”
said Ms Asha.
She said the EU/ACP/ WHO Renewed
Partnership which is coming to an end, has been a key partner in
addressing challenges within the pharmaceutical sector in Tanzania and
Zanzibar.
“Zanzibar being an Island and 100 per
cent depending on importation of medicines and medical supplies, it is
very prone to substandard, falsified and counterfeit as well as
unregistered medicines and health products circulating in the market,”
noted Ms Asha.
The EU/ACP/WHO Renewed Partnership was
established in 2012 with 10 million euros seed funding to contribute to
achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and
UHC.
Under the leadership of Ministries of
Health, the 15 ACP countries benefit from WHO’s strategic, technical and
monitoring support to increase access to quality essential medicines by
strengthening their pharmaceutical systems.
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