Kampala 3rd June 2015:- The World Health Organization (WHO) donated equipment to National Drug Authority (NDA) to be used for post-shipment testing of the 13 priority Life Saving Commodities (LSC) as described by the United Nations Commission Life Saving Commodities. The commodities include injections, medicines, female condoms, contraceptives and an electric suction pump and are intended to boost NDA’s capacity to test LSC, medicines and health commodities.

The WHO Country Representative Dr. Wondimagegnehu Alemu, handed over the equipment and appealed to NDA to always plan with technical programmes in Ministry of Health to leverage resources to build NDA capacity.  This approach he said, “would contribute to the overall resources available to NDA leading to better results”.

The Acting Executive Director of NDA Mr David Nahamya said that NDA appreciated WHO’s continuous technical and logistical support adding that this particular support had come at the right time considering the challenges facing NDA.  These challenges he reported, include ensuring the quality and standards of reproductive health commodities. He pledged proper use of the equipment by NDA to attain the desired results.

The UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children (UNCoLSC) was established in 2012 in response to a call by  UN Secretary-General  contained in the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health. The goal is to increase access to and appropriate use of 13 lifesaving commodities, which if more widely accessed and properly used, could save the lives of more than six million women and children. 

Key barriers to access to lifesaving commodities were also identified including severely under-resourced regulatory agencies in low-income countries that leads to delayed registration of commodities and lack of oversight of product quality.  Uganda is one of the eight pilot countries that are implementing a wide range of recommendations to overcome the barriers.

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For more information, please contact:

Mwebembezi Edmond, Public Information Officer
Tel.: +256 414 335569
Cell: +256 782 962674
Email: mwembembezie [at] who.int

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Below:

01. Dr. David Nahamya NDA signs on the handover documents, acknowledging receipt of the equipment

02. WHO Country Rep Dr. Alemu signs on the handover certificates as Mr. Joseph Mwoga (WHO) looks on

03. WHO Country Rep. Dr. Alemu  and Mr. Joseph Mwoga WHO right hand over the testing equipment  to NDA officials