Why African countries should prioritize the registration of maternal, newborn, and child health medical products: a call to action

Despite global progress in reducing maternal and child mortality rates, both are still unacceptably high on the African continent. Gaps in the quality of care—including poor access to medicines, vaccines, and medical devices—contribute significantly to illness and death among women, newborns, and children. Barriers to product registration are among the specific factors that contribute to inadequate access to lifesaving medical products. National regulatory authorities (NRAs), as one of the major stakeholders involved in product access, perform the fundamental role of ensuring the efficacy, safety, and quality of medical products that circulate in national markets, including those used for maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH).

USAID MTaPS, with the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization Initiative (AMRHI), developed an advocacy brief as a call to action to health stakeholders on the African continent, including NRAs, ministries of health, donors, development partners, and civil society, to prioritize the registration of MNCH medical products as part of a strategy to provide access to the products that are essential for effective MNCH services, save lives and avert preventable deaths.