LIBERIA – The Liberia Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Authority (LMHRA) has secured critical quality assurance laboratory equipment from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to promote quality control of pharmaceutical and health products.
USAID, through its Promoting the Quality of Medicines Plus (PQM+) program, donated equipment, parts, and reference standards worth more than US$300,000 to Liberia to ensure consumers have access to quality medicines.
The donation included high-performance liquid chromatography equipment, devices to conduct a chemical process called Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, assorted laboratory glassware, reference standards to guide the assessment of tested medicines and other laboratory supplies.
The advanced equipment will help Liberia in combatting substandard and falsified medicines which undermine the country’s ability to address malaria, maternal and child health concerns as well as family planning needs.
In addition, the Liberia Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Authority’s laboratory will use the donated equipment to ascertain the quality of medicines and health products on the Liberian market.
The testing equipment will further ensure that medicines meet established pharmaceutical standards hence compendial testing will be more efficient and cost-effective in LMHRA’s own facility.
Additionally, USAID and PQM+ is offering ongoing support to the country through handing over chemicals, reagents, equipment along with training and capacity building to support the lab in carrying out regulatory processes.
The donated equipment will boost testing capacity at the LMHRA lab and enable the facility to conduct proficiency testing and perform other quality audits, ultimately making it eligible for accreditation by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
The ultramodern equipment will also enable Liberia to perform its own quality testing on medicines and other health products rather than shipping samples out for testing in other countries.
Subsequently, conducting compendial testing in Liberia will be cheaper and faster and the process will gradually move the lab towards sustainability because the Liberia Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Authority will be able to generate funds from fees charged for sample testing.
“There is need for a high-functioning quality control lab in Liberia. It is vital to have a system for inspecting the quality of medical drugs on the Liberian market,” Liberian President George Manneh Weah stressed.
President Weah reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to facilitate access to quality health care for Liberia’s citizens, noting that it is an essential part of the government’s Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD).
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