By Asmau Ahmad
The World Health Organisation (WHO) will hold its first in-person forum on improving access to quality health products and technologies in November by boosting local production and technology transfer.
A senior WHO official said the upcoming World Local Production Forum (WLPF) would hold in The Hague, the Netherlands, from November 6 to November 8, with focus on leveraging regional and global partnerships.
Some 800 international organisation leaders and representatives, government ministers and senior officials, as well as representatives from finance institutions, the private sector, academia and the industry, would participate in the event.
A lack of access to vaccines, medicines, personal protection equipment, diagnostic kits and ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic has unequivocally highlighted the issue of healthcare inequity, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
This underlines the need to geographically diversify the manufacturing base for essential healthcare technologies, according to WHO experts.
In May 2021, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution called
“Strengthening local production of medicines and other health technologies to improve access.”
It signalled the importance of local production.
In this context, the WHO launched the WLPF, to be held every two years, aiming to provide the global community with a regular platform to foster partnerships and galvanize collective action in strengthening sustainable quality local production.
The first WLPF was held online in June 2021 and resulted in three recommendations aimed at strengthening sustainable local production of quality-assured health products.
