25 September 2019

What: 4th Biennial Scientific Conference on Medical Products Regulation in Africa
When: 30th September – 1st October 2019
Where: Elephant Hills Hotel, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

The 4th Biennial Scientific Conference on Medical Products Regulation in Africa (SCoMRA IV) will be held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe on 30th September – 1st October 2019.

This year’s theme is “A Decade of regulatory harmonization in Africa: Where are we? Where do we go from here?’

SCoMRA IV is organized by the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ), in partnership with the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care, the Southern African Development Community, World Health Organisation, The World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) and other key Development Partners.

SCoMRA has been held every two years since 2013, SCoMRA IV is a special one as the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization (AMRH) Initiative is celebrating its 10th year anniversary leading medicines regulatory systems strengthening and harmonization work in Africa since its inception in 2009. SCoMRA IV also comes at the opportune time when the continent is looking into the establishment of the African Medicines Agency (AMA) as an offshoot of the AMRH Initiative following the adoption of the AMA Treaty by the AU Assembly in February this year, and subsequent signing by five AU Member States.

The key speakers will be Margareth Ndomondo-Sigonda the Head of Health Program at AUDA-NEPAD and the first Director General of Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority; Gugu Mahlangu the Director General of MCAZ and Chairperson of the AMA Task Team; and Kelly Chibale, University of Cape Town (UCT) Professor and founding Director of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Drug Discovery and Development Research at UCT.

The overall goal of SCoMRA IV is to stimulate discussion on progress made over the last decade of regulatory harmonization and alignment of regulatory networks, identify regulatory challenges facing Africa and lessons learnt, and propose a path forward for the next decade with a special focus on the new AMA.

The conference will bring together key stakeholders, regulators, policymakers, academia, the scientific community, private sector and civil society from across Africa, providing a platform for stakeholders to brainstorm on their role of ethical and regulatory approval of clinical trials of new medicines.

Focal contact person:
Ms Buhle Hlatshwayo
Buhleh@nepad.org 0112563602 / +277837701937