Kenya’s pharmaceutical umbrella body has joined the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization Partnership Platform (AMRH-PP) as its joint secretariat.
The move by the Kenya Association of Pharmaceuticals Industry (KAPI) sets the stage for the creation and implementation of regulations geared towards harmonization and alignment of pharma products to the World Health Organization (WHO) priorities.
Speaking when announcing this new partnership, KAPI’s Chairperson Dr. Anastasia Nyalita described it as timely as the pharmaceutical industry has been dealing with cases of unregulated pharmaceuticals and the proliferation of the same.
“We are pleased to finally be members of the AMRH-PP as the joint secretariat. This partnership henceforth is one that will ensure that we deliver the much needed quality healthcare, through proper alignment and strengthening of our regulatory systems,” said Dr Nyalita.
The African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization partnership platform(AMRH-PP) is the African Chapter of the WHO Coalition of Interested Parties (WHO-CIP) whose mandate is to serve African interests and priorities in the medicine regulatory space, which will in the long run improve the public health sector in Africa.
Dr. Nyalita said that KAPI’s mission is to promote an ethical, innovative and responsible healthcare industry adding that the partnership AMRH-PP means that they were part of a team that is working towards the same goal, for the consumer’s benefit.
With Kenya’s large market for pharmaceutical products, the risk of unregulated pharmaceuticals is one that could have dire effects on the consumers, both within the country and in the region at large. It is for this reason that KAPI and other pharmaceutical industry players have been pushing the agenda of regulation, through the dispensation of quality health products and services.
This partnership of a wider scale also serves in the interest of the achievement of the government agenda for quality Universal Healthcare, which is likely to be achieved through this and many more similar collaborations by players in the same industry.
KAPI is a membership organization that brings together pharmaceutical companies who research, develop, manufacture and bring to market novel (new) drugs. The organization’s key objective is to ensure access to first-class quality medicines by clinicians and patients in all regions as well as educate and train users on appropriate use of these medicines.