Beijing, China —Partners in Population and Development (PPD) and National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) of China jointly organized a Roundtable on Reproductive Health Commodity Supply among Developing Countries on 7th November 2006 at the Beijing Friendship Hotel in Beijing, China. The roundtable brought together generic reproductive health drug manufacturers from China, India, Indonesia, South-Africa, Thailand in addition to prominent experts in the field to deliberate on the modalities and mechanisms for the provision of generic drugs in ensuring reproductive health commodity security among the developing countries. The Roundtable was sponsored by PPD, NPFPC and Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, and UNFPA.
In the panel from left Ms. Hao Linna, Director General, Dept. of International Cooperation, NPFPC, China, Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, Treasurer, PPD Board and Director of Population Secretariat, Uganda, Mr. Sangeet Harry Jooseery, Executive Director, PPD, H.E. Dr. Zhao Baige, Vice Minister, NPFPC, China, H.E. Dr. Safa El-Baz, PCC and Assistant Minister for Health and Population, Egypt, H.E. Dr. Fouad Hamadi, General Secretary, Minster of Health, Morocco.
Chaired by Dr. Hao Linna, Director-General, Department of International Cooperation of NPFPC, the Roundtable was officially opened by H.E. Dr. Zhao Baige, Vice Minister of NPFPC. Mr. Sangeet Harry Jooseery, Executive Director of PPD delivered inaugural statement in the Roundtable.
In the Roundtable, presentations were made by:
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Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, Treasurer, PPD Board and Director of Population Secretariat, Uganda
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Dr. Siswanto A. Wilopo, Deputy for FP and RH of BKKBN, Indonesia
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Mr. Peter Hall, PPD Consultant
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Mr. Humberto Zardo, Pharmaceutical Operations Improvement, Irvine, California, USA
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Mr. David Smith, Chief, Procurement Services Section, UNFPA, New York
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Mr. Lester Chinery, Managing Director, ICON/IPPF
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Representatives of Manufacturers from China, India, Indonesia, South-Africa, Thailand
The Roundtable was divided into the following three substantive sessions:
- Developing Countries: RH Commodity Needs and Indigenous Suppliers’ Practice
- Quality Control of RH Commodities
- Transparency of RH Commodity Supply Chain
The discussion of the Roundtable was centred on different aspects of manufacturing, quality control, storage, marketing, distribution and the role of generic drugs towards ensuring commodity security as economic, safe and effective substitute of patented and costlier contraceptive commodities.
Partcipants of the Roundtable
It was observed that there are huge demands for RH commodity and service in the developing countries and the pressing demand has generated the development of appropriate technologies. But countries need to further enhance their management standards and enable their commodities to comply with international quality standards. Manufacturers from developing countries are ready to meet existing demands. On the other hand, procurement and service delivery agencies, faced with severe financial difficulties, desire access to low cost products of assured quality as well as supportive mechanisms such as greater use of the commercial sector to allow resources to be focused on poorer users.