Technical Highlight: Strengthening Regulatory Systems in Democratic Republic of the Congo to Improve Access to Safe, Effective, and Quality Medicines

Chronic underfunding of the health sector coupled with long-term civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has contributed to insufficient regulatory capacity to effectively manage the registration and approval of new medicines in the country. In partnership with the USAID-funded SIAPS Program, the country’s Ministry of Health supported a number of broad interventions to strengthen DRC’s pharmaceutical regulatory system. SIAPS provides technical assistance to the three national control programs—malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis—to improving access to quality medicines and other commodities and increase the potential for achieving desired health outcomes.