Rwanda to host the headquarters of the African Medicines Agency

The main objective of the AAM is to improve the capacities of member states and reinforced educational centers (RECs) to regulate medical products, in order to improve African populations' access to quality, safe and effective medical products.

In particular, the agency will be responsible for supporting the growth of local pharmaceutical production, evaluating medical products for the treatment of priority diseases identified by the African Union, and inspecting, coordinating and regularly sharing information on products authorized for marketing.

The signatory countries of the Lomé Initiative against Falsified and Substandard Medicines (Congo-Brazzaville, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Uganda) and Brazzaville Foundation, the initiative's driving force, are delighted with this decision. Several countries, as well as the Foundation, had ardently supported the action of Michel Sidibé, AU Special Envoy for the creation of the AAM.

As a reminder, the political declaration signed in Lomé on January 18, 2020 by the Heads of State and their representatives includes the signing of the treaty establishing the AAM and its operationalisation.

For Brazzaville Foundation and for the signatory countries of the Lomé Initiative, one of the next steps towards legislative harmonisation at the continental level will be to adapt the AU model pharmaceutical law to the regulatory needs of each country.

Find out more about the AAM's guiding principles and functions within of the treaty establishing it.