Strategy for Pooled Procurement of Essential Medicines and
Health Commodities, 2013-2017
3. The lack of standardisation regarding procurement and price information made it difficult to compare information. Public
sector procurement prices (using FOB prices where those were available, or estimating FOB prices where they were not
available) were compared to the international benchmark price stated as FOB. For the majority of products in a group
of 50 tracer items, the ratio between the highest and lowest prices among 13 SADC Member States was greater than
5—i.e. the prices varied up to five-fold between the countries. For 8% of the items, prices varied more than 50-fold, i.e.
the highest price paid was more than 50 times more than the lowest price.
4. Data on pharmaceutical budgets and expenditure is hard to obtain. In addition, most Member States rely considerably
on donor support for purchasing essential medicines, especially for HIV and AIDS, malaria and TB.
5. SADC Member States are at various levels of pharmaceutical sector development and pharmaceutical services delivery,
as well as in the application of regulations and procedures, such as for quality assurance and public procurement.
6. Four Member States do not have a medicines regulatory authority that is responsible for regulating the quality of medicines
on the market. Five countries do not actively register medicines (Angola, DRC, Lesotho, Seychelles and Swaziland). The
capacities of Member states’ regulatory authorities that are responsible for assessing and approving medicines are
severely limited. Medicines allowed in one Member State are not automatically allowed for use in other Member States.
7. The median number of available pharmaceutical personnel (defined as pharmacists, pharmacy assistants, pharmacy
technicians and related occupations) is 0.7, and varies from 0.3 to 7 per 10,000 inhabitants. Although there is no
international recommended ratio for pharmaceutical human resources, these figures suggest that there are serious
shortages of qualified personnel in a number of SADC countries.
8. No information was provided on the use of Trade Related Intellectual Property (TRIPS) flexibilities in national legislation
to increase access to essential medicines. While the SADC Directorate for Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment (TIFI)
is working with the Ministries of Finance, Trade and Industry, there is little coordination between these Ministries and the
Health Ministries, both at national and regional levels.
2.3
Response analysis
The response analysis identified strategies that have been adopted regionally and nationally to improve the availability,
affordability and quality of essential medicines:
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pharmaceutical products or the raw materials needed to produce pharmaceutical products, import duties are
harmonised in the International Customs Code. The SADC Directorate of TIFI maintains a regional database of
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registration.
3. RATIONALE AND FEASIBILITY
From the situational analysis it is clear that progress has been made across the SADC region in improving access to
essential medicines. However, limited resources, a lack of standardisation in approaches to PSM systems, and a lack of
regional pharmaceutical market intelligence hamper further progress. Market intelligence is critical for improved decisionmaking, increased efficiency, good governance and transparency, all of which ultimately facilitate SADC’s objectives of
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