Afghanistan Afghan Public Health Institute Strategic Plan - ianphi

STRATEGIC DIRECTION: CREATE AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR THEPRODUCTION AND AVAILABILITY OF QUALITY PHARMACEUTICALSBrief Description/Rationale and Current SituationThe intent of this Strategic Direction is to create an enabling and regulated environment to ensurereliable and sustainable access to quality pharmaceuticals in Afghanistan.There are a number of critical issues to be addressed in the current environment including:Lack of access to quality assured essential medicinesLack of qualified human resources and pharmaceutical management skills at all levelsLack of standard stocksPoor quality of current pharmaceutical servicesHigh levels of out‐of‐pocket payments for medicines by the public due to lack of a mechanism toregulate the price of medicinesMultiple, largely uncoordinated, streams of medicine supplyA largely unregulated private sector, and uncontrolled use of medicinesUncertain role of the pharmaceutical manufacturing sectorLow local production capacity of pharmaceuticalsLow capacity of the existing Food and Drugs Quality Control Laboratory (i.e., does not meetinternational standards)No development of traditional and herbal medicines production and distributionStrategic Objective‐1 (SO‐1): To develop effective Quality Assurance (QA) systems to assure the quality ofpharmaceutical products in the public and private sectorsPriority Interventions:Establish a quality assurance technical advisory committeeProduce a road map for a quality assurance methodologyDevelop, finalize and implement a 5 year quality assurance strategy and implementation planPromote the appropriate functioning of national, regional, provincial and institutional Drug andTherapeutics Committees (DTCs)Develop and further refine Standard Treatment Guidelines (STGs) and establish Pharmacovigilanceand Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) SystemsUpgrade the Food and Drugs Quality Control Laboratory or build a new facilityStrategic Objective‐2 (SO‐2): To develop an effective and efficient Pharmaceutical Regulatory SystemPriority Interventions:Review the existing regulatory documents on pharmaceuticals in Afghanistan and develop newregulations as requiredMinistry of Public Health Strategic Plan, 2011‐201547