Health Reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa revealed that the Parliament of Zimbabwe will soon ratify the African Medicines Agency (AMA).

Speaking during the unveiling of the Mbuya Nehanda Nyakasikana statue in Harare, today, President Mnangagwa said, “Zimbabwe’s Parliament will soon be ratifying the Treaty establishing the African Medicines Agency as a specialised Agency of the African Union.

The President further expounded on the importance of the Agency toward Africa’s fight against counterfeit drugs and their trade, which poses public risk contributing to morbidity and mortality.

“This Agency will undoubtedly enhance collaboration and contribute to access of quality and safe medical products and health technologies, by the people of the Continent,” the President said.

Thanking the African Union for an insightful and Africa-centred initiative, President Mnangagwa said, “Allow me to take this opportunity of this occasion to commend the African Union, through the Africa Centre for Disease Control for the flagship programmes and interventions to strengthen public health capacities with regards to the Continent’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other disease threats.”

The establishment of the Africa Medicines Agency was necessitated by a realisation that weak regulatory systems have resulted in the circulation of substandard and falsified medical products in many African Union member States; posing risk to public health, harming patients and undermining confidence in healthcare delivery systems. The AMA is meant to strengthen regulatory capacity.