A group of 16 officials from different countries including Malawi have resolved that countries that have serious problems with drugs availability should encourage local production so that people do not die needlessly.
The officials, under the Leaders’ Forum on Innovation and Access to Medicines which was established by the United Nations, held a two-day conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, where it was observed that in countries like Malawi, people do not access medicines as expected.
Secretary General of the African Parliamentary Network (APN) Joseph Njobvuyalema—who has been co-opted into the Leaders’ Forum—said participants agreed that time has come for countries to be innovative when it comes to drugs availability.
“It has been observed that people are not accessing medicines as expected and the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki moon decided to co-opt someone from Africa and I have been co-opted as APN SG.
“Sustainable Development Goal 3 talks about issues of health. It has been observed that poor storage of drugs in hospitals, shortage of pharmacists, overpricing of medicines and short supply due to low production are causing a lot of problems,” said Njobvuyalema.
Currently, Malawi continues facing drug shortage and stakeholders have been urging government to put in place deliberate measures to ensure that people do not die needlessly.
On Friday, President Peter Mutharika launched the Buy Malawi Strategy (BMS) which, among others, encourages local production of goods and services to minimise shortage of forex which is usually due to imports.
According to Njobvuyalema, local production of drugs like antibiotics will not only save forex but also make sure the processes of importing are removed from the supply chain.
“It will also deal with issues of overpricing. The UN Leaders’ Forum Conference also urges governments to train as many pharmacists as possible and this should be an ongoing process,” said Njobvuyalema.
Currently, Malawi imports most of its medicines and medical supplies because the drugs are not readily available in the country.
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