Below is a list of in-country missions that the Access to Medicines and Health Technologies programme has organized or participated in to support equitable access to essential, high-quality, safe, effective and affordable health products in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
2022
Islamic Republic of Iran – Scoping mission for local production of vaccines
Jordan – Joint United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and WHO workshop on assistive technology procurement
Kenya – WHO implementation workshop on quality management systems for national regulatory authorities (NRAs) in the WHO African Region and WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region
Morocco – Assessment of the performance of Morocco’s national pharmacovigilance centre in the adverse events following immunization surveillance system
Saudi Arabia – Pre-NRA benchmarking mission for the Saudi Food and Drug Authority
United Arab Emirates – Scoping mission to conduct a preliminary assessment of the ecosystem for sustainable production of quality-assured vaccines (COVID-19 vaccine and others) and other biological products
2021
Jordan – Strengthening of the national regulatory system using the WHO Global Benchmarking Tool for evaluation of national regulatory systems
Oman – Strengthening of the national organ transplant programme
2020
Switzerland – Meeting of the WHO Steering Group for the Guideline Development Group on updating the WHO guideline on country pharmaceutical pricing policies
2019
Afghanistan – Technical support to strengthen the national blood system of Afghanistan
Iraq – Assessment of current medical supply procurement practices and ways of improving the availability of essential pharmaceuticals and other health technology products in Iraq
Iraq – Follow up on the implementation of the agreed actions of previous missions, and to assess previous missions and the current situation of blood safety and supply
Jordan – 12th Pan Arab Blood Transfusion Conference
Jordan – Meeting of the Steering Committee for Eastern Mediterranean Drug Regulatory Authorities
Lebanon – Expert consultative meeting to develop a technical package on the measurement of access to medicines in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and policy guidance for pharmaceutical financing and pricing
Lebanon – Regional meeting on strengthening pharmacovigilance systems in the Region’s countries
Lebanon – WHO mission to assess and strengthen the pharmacovigilance system in Lebanon
Oman – WHO mission to review Oman’s national health information system
Pakistan – Investigation of the HIV outbreak in Larkana district, Sindh province, Pakistan
Pakistan – Review the national blood system of Pakistan and provision of recommendations for
accelerating the ongoing blood system reform programme
Portugal – Meeting of the International Council for Commonality in Blood Banking Automation
Somalia – Technical assistance to strengthen the national blood system of Somalia
South Africa – Regional workshop on implementation of blood and blood products regulation
Switzerland – 29th Regional Congress of the International Society of Blood Transfusion
Switzerland – Meeting on the integration of a blood products assessment tool (assessment criteria for
national blood regulatory systems) into the WHO Global Benchmarking Tool for evaluation of national regulatory systems
Syria – National workshop on strengthening the pharmacovigilance system in Syria
Syria – Training workshop on strengthening medicines supply chain management in Syria
Tunisia – Assessment of the implementation of the surveillance of antimicrobial consumption
United Arab Emirates – 79th International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) World Conference of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
United States of America – Annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies
Yemen – National training workshop on strengthening the national blood system (conducted in Amman, Jordan)
Yemen – Technical assistance to strengthen the blood system of Yemen
Zambia – Regional training workshop on haemovigilance organized by the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut and the WHO Regional Office for Africa
2018
China – Meeting of WHO collaborating centres, nongovernmental organization partners of WHO and other key partners for blood and transfusion safety
Germany – International Consensus Conference on Patient Blood Management
Islamic Republic of Iran – Regional workshop on leadership and governance of national blood systems
Jordan – Discussion of the status of the National Blood Bank as a WHO collaborating centre
and to agree on future collaboration
Kenya – 6th Annual Meeting on Collaborative Registration Procedure
Lebanon – WHO mission to review and assess local production of pharmaceuticals in Lebanon
Libya – Consultative meeting with supply chain stakeholders
Oman – Eastern Mediterranean Drug Regulatory Authorities Conference
Pakistan – Follow up on the implementation of the agreed actions of previous consultations and trainings to address gaps in blood regulation and blood donor management
Pakistan – Follow up on the implementation of the recommended actions from previous missions, and to discuss with the political leadership support for blood transfusion authorities to implement regulatory functions
Switzerland – 41st Annual Meeting of Representatives of the National Pharmacovigilance Centres Participating in the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring
Switzerland – First technical meeting of the WHO Task Force on Donation and Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues
Switzerland – Meeting of the editorial group for updating the “WHO screening donated blood for transfusion-transmissible infections: recommendations”
Switzerland – Meeting of regional advisors on medicines, vaccines and other health technologies
Tunisia – 13th Arab Transfusion Medicine Forum
Tunisia – First forum of the Hemophilia Eastern Mediterranean Network
United Republic of Tanzania – 9th Congress of the Africa Society for Blood Transfusion