Congo Events

EU/ACP/WHO Renewed Partnership 3rd year meeting
29 June to 3 July 2015, Brazzaville, Congo
 

The EU/ACP/WHO Renewed Partnership (RP) to strengthen pharmaceutical systems and improve access to quality medicines in 15 African countries from the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) started on the 1st of October 2012 and is now in its 3rd year of implementation. 

Every year, representatives from Ministries of Health, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), medicine advisors from WHO country offices, WHO staff from AFRO and headquarters involved in the RP implementation meet to review progress and facilitate the implementation of planned activities at country, sub-regional and regional level.

Specific topics of interest for countries or new subjects in relation to the global agenda on access to essential medicines are included in the agenda of these meetings.

The RP 3rd year meeting will be held from 29 June to 3rd July 2015, in Brazzaville, Congo. The meeting will be in two parts.

The first part of the meeting (29 and 30 June 2015) will bring together WHO medicines country advisors in charge of the day-to-day implementation of the RP, to provide them with feedback on the general overview of the implementation of the RP 2nd year plan and with the outcome of the mid-term review and the second Steering Committee with the European Commission. This part of the meeting will further discuss the role of WHO medicines advisors in countries and more particularly in the policy dialogue necessary in the pharmaceutical sector. 

The second part of the meeting (1st to 3rd July 2015) will bring together representatives of Ministries of Health, RECs and WHO medicine advisors involved in the RP implementation. During this meeting, the representatives will share information on progress made in countries with the implementation of activities identified for the 3rd year RP plan; will share experiences, opportunities and challenges and foster a strategy to enhance implementation of agreed activities to achieve RP objectives and expected results. The meeting will address modalities to further increase the visibility of the RP in countries. 

Training sessions and discussions will also be organized on specific topics including:

• Good governance and transparency in the pharmaceutical sector,
• Development of pricing and reimbursement policies within national health insurance systems as part of the Universal Health Coverage agenda,
• Selection of essential medicines,
• National procurement systems.

Meeting background and objectives (454.93 kB)

For more information please contact:

Abayneh Tamir Desta
Email: destaa [at] who.int
Tel: +47241 39262

To address the emerging threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and its devastating consequences, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa hosted a Consultative Experts’ Meeting on Combating Antimicrobial Resistance in the African Region from 6 to 8 May 2015 in Brazzaville, Congo.

To address the emerging threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and its devastating consequences, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa hosted a Consultative Experts’ Meeting on Combating Antimicrobial Resistance in the African Region from 6 to 8 May 2015 in Brazzaville, Congo.

ABOUT THE MEETING:

Brazzaville, 8 May 2015 – The African Region is facing an increasing risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that threatens the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections caused by bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi. AMR and its spread will compromise health security in the Region as many standard medical treatments will fail or turn into high-risk procedures causing prolonged illnesses, high health care expenditures, and greater risks of death.

The AMR threat is hampering hard-won gains in health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the sustainability of public health response to many communicable diseases such as cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis, malaria, meningitis, pneumonia, gonorrhoea and AIDS.

To address the emerging threat of AMR and its devastating consequences, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa is hosting a Consultative Experts’ Meeting on Combating Antimicrobial Resistance in the African Region from 6 to 8 May 2015 in Brazzaville, Congo.

The meeting opened with a critical message from Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa that was delivered on her behalf by Dr Joseph Cabore, Director of Programme Management. Dr Moeti highlighted that “the consultation is of utmost importance and is taking place at a time when there is a global consensus to commit and initiate actions for combating antimicrobial resistance.

“The fight against antimicrobial resistance requires concerted efforts, multifaceted interventions and multidisciplinary approaches to increase the awareness of policy makers, health professionals, and the general public about its negative implications.”

Multiple factors contribute to the growing problem of AMR in the Region. These include the inappropriate prescribing, dispensing, and indiscriminate use of antimicrobial medication in humans as well as veterinary and agriculture settings.

Weak medicines regulatory capacity remains a significant gap in many African countries and allows for substandard/spurious/falsely-labelled/falsified/counterfeit antimicrobials to enter the supply chain and contribute to treatment failures and the emergence and spread of AMR.

Other factors that drive AMR and its spread include poor infection control practices, inadequate sanitary conditions, and inappropriate food production and handling practices. Equally important is Member States’ capacity to collect reliable information on antimicrobial consumption and AMR and establish information sharing mechanisms between networks of laboratories and health professionals to address these concerns. 

In May 2014, the 67th World Health Assembly (WHA) expressed the growing concern of AMR and urged governments to strengthen national action and international collaboration. The resulting resolution requested that WHO develop a draft global action plan to combat AMR for approval by the WHA in 2015.

In light of the ongoing discussions on AMR, Member States in the WHO African Region need to prioritize key interventions to ensure quality and supply of antimicrobial medicines and the development of National Essential Medicines Lists and Standard Treatment Guidelines to promote their rational use. They also need to monitor antimicrobial consumption and strengthen their capacity for AMR surveillance.

The group of African experts will identify a set of priority interventions that will guide countries in the Region to develop and update their national plans and stimulate inter-country collaboration for sharing of information and experiences and tackling AMR as a collective and regional health threat.  

The meeting brought together 40 experts from the ministries of health, academia, laboratories, food safety, medicines and diagnostics, public health and infectious diseases of 17 countries from the WHO African Region. National Professional Officers on Essential Medicines (EDM/NPOs) from WHO Country Offices in 15 countries, Inter-country Support Teams, WHO staff from the Health Systems Strengthening (HSS/AFRO) and Health Security and Emergency (HSE/AFRO) Clusters, Essential Medicines and Health Products (EMP/HQ) and Antimicrobial Resistance (PED/HQ), WHO/EURO as well as the Norwegian Public Health Institute were also in attendance.

Key partners include the African Federation of Public Health Associations, African Society of Medicine Laboratory, and Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network. The meeting was made possible thanks to the generous support of the EC/ACP/WHO/Renewed Partnership on strengthening pharmaceutical systems for improving access to essential medicines in Africa.

_______________________________________________

For more information, please contact:

Technical contacts:

Dr Delanyo Tsidi Dovlo; Tel: +472 413 9388; Email: dovlod [at] who.int

Dr Ossy M.J. Kasilo; Tel: +472 413 9268; Email: kasiloo [at] who.int

Dr Yahaya Ahmed Ali; Tel: +472 413 9248; Email: aliahmedy [at] who.int

Communications contacts:

Ms Flavienne Issembe; Tel: +472 413 9352; Email: issembef [at] who.int

Dr Cory Couillard; Tel: + 472 413 9995; Email: couillardc [at] who.int