SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (CMC ) — The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) says several countries, including those in the Caribbean, have committed to continue collaborating in strengthening regulatory systems to ensure safe, effective and quality medicines.

PAHO said that while progress in the region of the Americas has been made over the past 20 years to harmonise national regulatory systems, “more must be done for well-functioning health systems that want to achieve universal health”.

It said this was one of the primary outcomes of the ninth Conference of the Pan American Network for Drug Harmonisation (CPANDRH), held here recently under the theme “Commemorating 20 years of PANDRH and 40 years of Alma-Ata: The contributions of regulatory harmonisation on achieving ‘Health for All’.”

PAHO’s Assistant Director Jarbas Barbosa said that access to essential medicines is one of the necessary components to achieve the goal of ‘Health for All’.

“Essential medicines are critical to addressing public health priorities. And many of the most important public health achievements of our continent have been reached, in part, thanks to access to these essential products,” he added.

PAHO called on countries of the region to continue to work on ensuring the development of national regulatory systems to guarantee access to safe, effective and quality medicines.

Over the past 20 years, PAHO said regulatory authorities have improved in their capacities through a PAHO-led assessment based on a standardised and transparent process.

Eight regulatory systems in the Americas have been designated National Regulatory Authorities of Regional Reference (NRAr), as they are deemed by PAHO to fulfil a high percentage of regulatory capacity indicators.

Together, PAHO said these NRAr systems ensure that 82 per cent of the population has access to quality medicines and health.