The African Medicines Agency and Medicines for Africa signed a memorandum of understanding on July 16, 2026 in Kigali to strengthen advocacy and the fight against substandard and falsified medical products across the continent.
The African Medicines Agency (AMA) and Medicines for Africa (MFA) formalized their collaboration on July 16, 2026, in Kigali, Rwanda, by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
This agreement aims to strengthen advocacy and communication as part of the continent’s collective response to substandard and falsified medical products.As part of this partnership, AMA will draw on MFA’s expertise in advocacy and communication to support national regulatory authorities in Africa in their initiatives to combat these dangerous products.
The Director General of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Dr. Delese Mimi Darko, reiterated that the Agency was established to strengthen regulatory cooperation and improve access to safe, quality, and effective medical products across the continent. She emphasized that falsified products thrive in fragmented supply chains and under-resourced regulatory oversight, highlighting the importance of combining regulatory harmonization with targeted public engagement.
According to the World Health Organization, up to one in ten medical products fails quality testing in low- and middle-income countries. This situation exposes millions of Africans daily to potentially serious, even fatal, consequences and erodes public trust in healthcare systems.
Dr. Lenias Hwenda, Founder and CEO of MFA, indicated that this partnership reflects a shared commitment to placing patient safety at the heart of the African medicines agenda, through joint communication and advocacy programs and initiatives.As the first concrete initiative of this collaboration, AMA and MFA will co-organize the African Patient Safety Summit in Kigali, from September 16 to 17, 2026.
This event will bring together governments, regulators, health institutions, industry, researchers, innovators and development partners to combat substandard and falsified medical products in Africa.
