Policy Dialogue Workshop  “Are manufacturers in Tanzania losing out in an expanding health sector market? If so, what can be done about it?”

25th November 2014, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Dar es Salaam

REPOA hosted a policy workshop on 25th November 2014 that brought together industrial and health policy makers, and other key stakeholders in the supply chain of pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies to discuss and consider evidence from a research project entitled  “Industrial Productivity, Health Sector Performance and Policy Synergies for Inclusive Growth: A Study in Tanzania and Kenya”.  The study was recently conducted by REPOA, in collaboration with the Open University UK, and the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) in Nairobi, and RAND-Europe, and is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The overall objective of this research was to identify ways in which improved local industrial production within Tanzania and Kenya of pharmaceuticals and essential medical supplies and equipment can contribute to improved health sector performance.

The objective of this high level policy dialogue was to discuss the findings of the research conducted in Tanzania, that are suggestive of local manufacturers losing out in an expanding health sector market, and to discuss the thinking underlying the policy recommendations that the study puts forward as ways that can contribute to better integration of health and industrial policies, to the improvement of industrial output and to better essential supplies to support health system improvement. (The presentations drew on the content of two policy briefs which can be accessed through the Links below):

Downloads

Participants discussed and debated the impediments to improved local industrial supply to the health system, and the scope for improved local industrial production of pharmaceuticals and essential medical supplies and equipment. It was proposed and agreed that REPOA should submit a set of detailed recommendations to the Task Force on promotion of local pharmaceutical production that is chaired by TFDA for follow-up.

Workshop Video Coverage