Context The Ebola epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic have clearly demonstrated that timely access to safe, effective and affordable medicines and vaccines is vital to prevent and fight infectious diseases and protect public health. Many African countries, however, rely on imports of vaccines because national production capacity is insufficient and…
Context Low-quality drugs pose a substantial threat to individual and public health. Issues include incorrect labelling, potentially toxic or wrong active ingredients and unacceptably high levels of impurities. Low-quality anti-infective medicines, in particular, pose a potentially global concern as they can lead to the development of antimicrobial resistance, making the…
Context Global health crises are on the rise, especially those caused by infectious disease outbreaks, and pose a serious threat to health and well-being. WHO estimates that up to 10 million lives could be saved every year if access to safe and effective medicines and vaccines were improved. As a…
Short Description As the world comes together to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical that essential services and operations continue to protect the lives of people with Tuberculosis (TB). The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to reverse much of the progress that has been made in reducing TB-related morbidity and…
Short Description Health crises such as the large Ebola Virus Disease epidemic in West Africa (2014-2016) require a rapid mobilisation of resources to manage the outbreak. When existing resources and measures are concentrated and re-allocated to cope with an outbreak, routine health care can be severely compromised. In addition, fear…
Short Description The recurrent Ebola epidemics of recent years, as well as other infectious diseases widespread in Africa such as HIV, tuberculosis or malaria, show that effective and safe medicines for the prevention and treatment of these infectious diseases are not or not sufficiently available. Under the umbrella name “RegTrain”…
Short Description The Ebola epidemic in West Africa has shown that vaccines and therapeutics are not readily available to control an epidemic quickly. In many cases, health systems are overwhelmed under those conditions. Essential clinical trials can only take place with restrictions and delays, if at all. The RegTrain-VaccTrain project…
Joint guidelines: Ambitious work plan for 2021 and 2022 The four national medicines regulatory authorities (NMRAs) of Ghana (FDA Ghana), Liberia (LMHRA), Sierra Leone (PBSL) and The Gambia (MCA Gambia) are working as TWG-MAG members with the PharmTrain team in a joint effort to develop guidelines for marketing authorization. In…
As part of the ORDER-HC project, a team of the RKI and COMAHS conducted a qualitative study in Sierra Leone between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022. The aim of the study was to identify and analyse strategies, measures and experiences of health care providers of maintaining…