ArticleFrontiers in public health2019
Unintended Consequences and Hidden Obstacles in Medicine Access in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Parkinson disease treatments on national essential medicines lists, African Region.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2025Article
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- Article
- Comparison of the review models and regulatory timelines of seven countries participating in the ECOWAS-MRH initiative: identifying opportunities for improvement.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Outer packaging labelling of medicines in Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries: comparative analysis of requirements and transition terms for harmonisation.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- A narrative review on problems in product quality, regulatory system constraints, and the concept of quality by design as a solution for quality assurance of African medicines.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Review
- Investigating the Presence of Falsified and Poor-Quality Fixed-Dose Combination Artemether-Lumefantrine Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms in Kumasi, Ghana.Advances in pharmacological and pharmaceutical sciences · 2024Article
- Comparison of Three Regional Medicines Regulatory Harmonisation Initiatives in Africa: Opportunities for Improvement and Alignment.International journal of health policy and management · 2024Article
- The domestication of the African Union model law on medical products regulation: Perceived benefits, enabling factors, and challenges.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Establishment of the African Medicines Agency: progress, challenges and regulatory readiness.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2021Article
- Post-Marketing Surveillance of Quality of Artemether Injection Marketed in Southwest Nigeria.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2020Article
- Tackling the global impact of substandard and falsified and unregistered/unlicensed anti-tuberculosis medicines.The journal of medicine accessArticle
- Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Sector Stakeholder Perspectives on Regulatory Harmonization in IGAD: A Descriptive Study.Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financingArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many life-saving drugs are still inaccessible and unaffordable in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. This contributes to poor health outcomes, wider health and socioeconomic inequities, and higher patient spending on healthcare. While resource limitations facing national regulatory authorities (NRAs) contribute to the problem, we believe that (1) fragmented and complex drug regulations, (2) suboptimal enforcement of existing regulations, and (3) poorly designed disincentives for non-compliance play a larger role. These "unintended consequences" that are a direct result of our current regulatory regimes limit competition, keep drug costs high, and lead to shortages and the proliferation of illegitimate and unregistered drugs. While NRAs can gain a lot from increased investment in their work, regulatory harmonization and innovation can arrest and reverse the regulatory failures we still see today and improve medicine access in Africa. Unfortunately, harmonization initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa have made modest impact and have done so slowly. We encourage greater attention and investment in harmonization and other downstream functions of NRAs. We also urge increased participation of national governments-particularly executive agencies in health and the treasury-and patient advocacy groups in advancing harmonization across the subcontinent.
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