Dr. Ali Al-Ghamrawi, Chairman of the Egyptian Drug Authority, participated in a meeting of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, held from April 29th to May 1st, entitled ""Regulatory Frameworks in Africa"", with the participation of a group of chairmen of African regulatory authorities, representatives of the African Union Development Agency (NEPAD), the World Health Organization, and organizations concerned with improving health systems in the African continent.
The meeting witnessed many constructive and fruitful discussions on several important topics, including enhancing and developing the support provided by the American foundation to the African Drug Agency, the harmonization program of regulatory procedures for African drugs, and supporting regulatory frameworks on the continent, especially those related to vaccines. The discussions also included proposed visions for introducing modern technologies such as artificial intelligence into regulatory and supervisory frameworks which would have positive effects on the effectiveness of these systems in Africa.
The chairman of the Egyptian Drug Authority participated in two discussion sessions during the event, the first titled ""The Role of Drug Regulators in Supporting Innovation and Developing the Pharmaceutical Industry in Africa"" and the second titled ""How to Support Regulatory and Supervisory Authorities on Drugs on the Continent to Reach Advanced Levels According to the World Health Organization standards"". Several side meetings were also held, the most prominent of which was with Dr. Daniel Hartman, Director of Health Development at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and a number of officials from the American foundation.
It is worth noting that the American foundation was founded by Bill and Melinda Gates in 2000, and the foundation aims to promote healthcare and reduce extreme poverty globally. In this context, it provides the necessary support and funding to enhance healthcare in the African continent, working to support African regulatory authorities to achieve a more flexible regulatory environment and more effective oversight systems for drugs, which positively impacts the health of African citizens.
This comes within the framework of the Egyptian Drug Authority's continuous efforts to strengthen cooperation with international institutions concerned with supporting regulatory frameworks for drugs on the continent, reaffirming its commitment to develop the African regulatory system and working to enhance public health for the population in Africa
"