The West Africa Medicines Regulatory Harmonization Project holds its 7th Steering Committee Meeting

The West Africa Medicines Regulatory Harmonization Project holds its 7th Steering Committee Meeting

Dakar, Senegal – The West African Health Organization (WAHO) has organized the 7th Steering Committee Meeting of the West Africa Medicines Regulatory Harmonization Project (WA-MRH).

The meeting was held in Dakar, Senegal from 9-10 December.

In attendance were Heads or representatives of the Heads of fourteen (14) National Medicines Regulatory Authorities (NMRAs) of ECOWAS Member States. The NMRA of Guinea was not represented.

Also in attendance were Advisers and Observer Members of the Steering Committee and representatives of partners such as the World Bank, WHO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and AUDA-NEPAD.

The aim of the 7th WA-MRH Steering Committee meeting was to appraise the West Africa Medicines Regulatory Harmonization (WA-MRH)-related activities in the region in 2019 and provide the necessary guidance for more efficiency. More specifically, the meeting was to: 

• Assess the level of implementation of the strategic recommendations made during the WA-MRH Project Mid-Term Review Workshop to accelerate the Project;
• Review the regional and country Project-Implementation-Reports (Physical, Financial and Procurement) since the Steering Committee Meeting of July 25-26, 2019;
• Assess the level of the progress of the ECOWAS Joint Approval of Medicines Procedures approved during the July 25-26, 2019 Steering Committee meeting;
• Grant substantive endorsement to the Chlorhexidine gel Dossier of Drugfield Pharmaceutical Limited that had the conditional endorsement of the Steering Committee Meeting of July 25-26, 2019 to enable countries take appropriate decision on in-country Market Authorization;
• Assess the level of implementation of the tasks assigned to the various Experts Working Groups (EWGs) at the last Steering Committee Meeting of July 25-26, 2019;
• Approve the Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWPB) (country and region) till May 14, 2020;
• Validate the proposed activities that will be carried out till the end April 2020;
• Validate any other proposed project-implementation-acceleration-plan. 

The WA-MRH Steering Committee meeting was chaired by Professor Stanley OKOLO, the Director General of WAHO. His co-chairs were Dr. Sani Barira Dan Nouhou, Director, National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) of Niger and Dr Mahamane HAMIDINE, Director of Health and Social Affairs of UEMOA Commission.

At the end of the 7th Steering Committee meeting, six (6) recommendations were made to WAHO, two (2) to countries and two (2) to partners. These are:

WAHO (6)

1. Continue to support countries in the implementation of pending activities;
2. Communicate clearly any changes in processes to Member States and NMRAs;
3. Accelerate procurement and transfer of funds to countries;
4. Improve and disseminate communication regarding the on-going joint assessment procedure in the ECOWAS region;
5. Ensure the participation of the 8 countries that are not represented in EWG on MPDER in the joint evaluation work;
6. Optimize the use of available resources through strategies such as: virtual meetings and joint evaluations as well as reducing the number of days of physical meetings.

Countries (2)

1. Accelerate the implementation of activities that are still pending;
2. Change the activities requiring the selection of consultants whose contracts have not yet been signed up to date.

Technical and Financial Partners (2)

1. Continue to support regional and national efforts to sustain the achievements of the WA-MRH Project objective.
2. Accelerate the procedures for obtaining No Objections for the remaining activities.