The African Medicines Agency (AMA) and Medicines for Africa (MFA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at strengthening advocacy, communication and continental efforts to combat the spread of substandard and falsified medical products across Africa.
The partnership will see AMA leverage MFA’s expertise in public engagement and advocacy to support National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) across the continent in tackling the circulation of unsafe medicines and improving confidence in healthcare systems.
Speaking on the agreement, the Director-General of AMA, Dr Delese Mimi Darko, said stronger regulatory coordination and public awareness were critical to protecting patients from harmful medical products.
It was noted that substandard and falsified medicines thrive because of fragmented supply chains and weak regulatory systems, stressing that improved cooperation among African countries would help ensure safer outcomes for patients.
“By strengthening continental coordination and regulatory harmonisation on substandard and falsified medical products, and combining this with targeted public engagement, we will ensure that regulatory excellence translates into safer outcomes for patients and stronger public confidence in medical products,” Darko said.
The partnership comes amid growing concerns over the quality of medicines available in many low- and middle-income countries. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as many as one in 10 medical products in these countries fail quality testing.
Experts say complex supply chains, inadequate oversight and regulatory gaps contribute to the availability of counterfeit and substandard medicines, putting millions of patients at risk and weakening trust in health systems.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Medicines for Africa, Dr Lenias Hwenda, described the agreement as a shared commitment to placing patient safety at the centre of Africa’s medicines agenda.
“Together with the African Medicines Agency, we will undertake joint communication and advocacy programmes and initiatives that will help in combating the circulation of substandard and falsified medical products in Africa,” he said.
As the first major initiative under the partnership, AMA and MFA will jointly host the Africa Patient Safety Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, from September 16 to 17, 2026.
The summit will bring together governments, regulators, healthcare institutions, industry leaders, researchers, innovators and development partners to develop stronger strategies for improving patient safety and eliminating unsafe medical products from African markets.
The collaboration is expected to support Africa’s broader goal of building stronger medicine regulation systems and ensuring that safe, effective and quality-assured healthcare products become the standard across the continent.
