Georgetown, Guyana, April 11, 2024 (PAHO) - The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), through its Department of Innovation, Access to Medicines and Health Technologies (IMT), conducted a technical cooperation mission on the strengthening of regulatory and legal capacities for local production and access to health technologies in Guyana. The relevance of regulatory system strengthening remains a public health priority in the Americas as in September of 2022 countries approved, in the context of PAHO’s Governing Bodies, a new Policy and Resolution for Regulatory System Strengthening (CSP30.R12).
During this mission an important milestone was reached as the country completed the assisted self-assessment against the WHO Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT) for all regulatory functions, an activity which PAHO has been supporting for over a year. Additionally, an institutional development plan with key activities to build regulatory maturity was further developed to include clinical trials oversight and NRA lot release.
The PAHO team also participated in a stakeholder consultation on the draft Medicines Regulation Bill, led by the Ministry of Health. This is part of the roadmap to strengthen the legal framework using international standards and best practices including public health emergency situations.
PAHO continues to work with the Government of Guyana as it moves forward with its commitment to establish a robust regulatory system that promotes an enabling environment to access quality, safe and effective medicines, vaccines, and health technologies and improves local production capacities.
This mission was supported by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and the WHO Pandemic Preparedness Programme.
