Partnership strengthens continental collaboration to prevent the circulation of substandard and falsified medical products, medication-related harm and build safer medicines systems.
Medicines for Africa (MFA) and the African Medicines Agency (AMA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to put patient safety at the centre of Africa’s medicines agenda and strengthen the continent’s collective response to substandard and falsified medical products.
Under the agreement, MFA and AMA will collaborate to enhance continental coordination and regulatory harmonization in combating substandard and falsified medical products. AMA will leverage MFA’s advocacy capacity to raise awareness and mobilize stakeholders to take action at national, regional, and global levels. Both organizations will undertake joint programmes and initiatives that will help in combatting the circulation of substandard and falsified medical products in Africa.
“This partnership reflects a shared commitment to ensuring that we put patient safety at the centre of Africa’s medicines agenda. Protecting patients requires more than regulation alone. It requires collaboration across the entire medicines ecosystem. Together with the African Medicines Agency, we will mobilise partnerships, collaborations, and practical action to strengthen medicines safety systems and help build Africa’s frontline defense against unsafe medicines.” said Dr Lenias Hwenda, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Medicines for Africa.
Every day, millions of Africans rely on medical products to prevent disease, manage chronic conditions and save lives. Substandard and falsified medical products, medication-related errors and supply chain vulnerabilities continue to threaten lives, weaken health systems and erode public trust. According to the WHO, as many as one in ten medical products in low- and middle-income countries fail quality testing.
No single institution can solve this challenge alone. Recognising that patient safety is a shared responsibility, AMA as the continental regulatory convener is partnering with MFA, an African-led patient safety organisation to ensure that as Africa expands access to medical products, patient safety remains central and safe, quality, and efficacious medical products are the standard.
“The African Medicines Agency was established to strengthen regulatory cooperation and improve access to safe, quality and efficacious medical products across Africa. Substandard and falsified medical products thrive on fragmented supply chains and weak regulatory oversight. By strengthening continental coordination and regulatory harmonisation among national regulatory authorities, and combining this with the targeted public engagement that MFA leads, we will ensure that regulatory excellence translates into safer outcomes for patients and stronger public confidence in medical products,” said H.E. Dr Delese Mimi Darko, Director-General of the African Medicines Agency.
Africa Patient Safety Summit — Kigali, 16–17 September 2026
As the first joint initiative under the partnership, AMA and MFA will co-convene the Africa Patient Safety Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, from 16 to 17 September 2026. The Summit will convene governments, regulators, healthcare institutions, industry, researchers, innovators and development partners to advance collective action on patient safety and to tackle substandard and falsified medical products across the continent.
The collaboration reflects a shared vision of an Africa where every patient has access to medicines that are not only available, but safe, effective and trusted.
