Three East African countries represented at validation meeting for Global Health research project
Article
|Published
|The East, Central and Southern Africa –Health Community (ECSA-HC) and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health held a validation meeting for a regional study, ‘Global Access to Medicines in the 21st century: Regional and country perspectives on the update of National Essential Medicine List’.
ECSA-HC in collaboration with Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) and Fridtjof Nansens Institute (FNI) partnered to conduct a regional study on access to medicines. This study, entitled, ‘Global Access to Medicines in the 21st century: Regional and country perspectives on the update of National Essential Medicines List’ aims to explore, document and share experiences among the ECSA-HC member states the practices, challenges and emerging opportunities for improving access to essential medicines.
Lead by Berit Sofie Hembre, NIPH is conducting a primary study in partnership with Kristin Sandberg from FNI, part of the sub-project focusing on the impact of emerging economies on access to medicines for the i4C project – an international consortium of researchers and partnering institutions evaluating policy interventions that aim to secure access to basic health commodities in low and middle income countries.
"... access to essential medicines is a core component of the Sustainable Development Goals target of achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC)." ECSA-HC Director General, Prof. Yoswa Dambisya.
The validation meeting was held on 7 March 2019 in Mombasa, Kenya. The participants in the validation workshop included senior officials from Ministries of Health, National Medicines Procurement Agencies, National Medicines Regulatory Authorities from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda; and Partner Organizations including WHO and Management Sciences for Health.
The workshop was organised for stakeholders to;- review and provide feedback to the draft study report and ensure the information as provided and analyzed are correct, discuss ways to strengthen cooperation in the area of access to medicines at the national and regional level, and identify further knowledge and research needs.
ECSA-HC Director General, Prof. Yoswa Dambisya while giving his opening remarks, noted that access to essential medicines is a core component of the Sustainable Development Goals target of achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). On her part Dr Kristin Sandberg, from Fridtjof Nansens Institute noted that this is part of a larger project called Strengthening International Collaboration for Capitalizing on Cost-Effective and Life-Saving Commodities (i4C). She said that the NIPH is delighted to partner with ECSA-HC in this research project.
The inputs from the validation meeting is expected to inform the final study report.
