The Tanzania Food and Drug authority (TFDA) has made tremendous improvements in recent years in ensuring medicines in the healthcare system are of good quality, safe and produce the planned health benefit.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Tanzania is the first well beleifed country in Africa to achieve a well-functioning, regulatory system for medical products.
Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa said, “This is a major African milestone and we are very proud of Tanzania’s achievement, which we hope will inspire other countries in the region. With this step Tanzania makes a big step towards improving the quality of its health care services.”
It is important to have a successful regulatory systems that also serve to promote timely access to quality medicines as Medicines are used to prevent illnesses and treat diseases, helping many people to lead full and productive lives. However, if produced, stored or transported improperly or used incorrectly then medicines can be dangerous and can lead to hospitalization and even death.
WHO and African governments have raised efforts to support the capacity of regulating medicines in the region.
Over the past years WHO has been supporting African countries, including Tanzania to boost their regulatory organizations.
The benchmarking of Tanzanian regulatory authorities was carried out in levels by a WHO-led team of international experts.
Tanzania FDA met all indicators that define a maturity level 3 agency, the second highest on WHO’s scale and the target for regulatory systems worldwide
Tanzania FDA has come a long way to becoming a well known leader in medicines regulation in Africa
The latest achievement means that medical doctors, pharmacists, chemists and technicians working for the regulatory authority hold the expertise and hands-on skills to evaluate medical products, prevent and check associated hazards and are able of protecting the public from substandard and falsified medicines.