Half of the people living in Sub-Saharan countries do not have reliable access to essential medicines. DIFAEM pharmaceutical services focus on capacity building of pharmaceutical services through action as well as through lobby and advocacy.
Strenghening access to affordable, high qualitiy medicines
Procurement of medicines and medical equipment and supplies
Through our Pharmaceutical Services we support the procurement of medical supplies. It is registered as a procurement agent with the German government. Specifically it supplies:
- Essential medicines (EM)
- Special focus on EM listed by the WHO but not (yet) used very often: e.g. medicines against non-communicable diseases
- Laboratory equipment, chemicals, etc
- Pharmaceutical raw materials
DIFAEM pharmaceutical services strengthen and support local supply chain management for church-related health facilities and offer procurement services and support.
Local Drug Supply Organizations
Today about 15 church-owned Drug Supply Organizations (DSOs) exist in different African countries to procure drugs and medical supplies mainly from African and Asian sources. The total annual turnover of these DSOs is about 90 Million US-Dollars. DIFAEM Pharmaceutical Services is a key partner of these DSOs. Strengthening their capacity to supply essential drugs to church hospitals and to improve networking between the DSOs to increase access to drugs across the continent, e.g. from Kenya to Chad or Sierra Leone, from Uganda to Sudan or DRC etc. Furthermore, DSOs are strengthened through appropriate training and capacity building.
Quality Control of Medicines
Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QC) of Medicines are another main focus of DIFAEM Pharmaceutical Services. We advise and support partners when implementing and upgrading their QC systems. Specifically, we take care that these DSOs have appropriate means to ensure that all medicines are of the highest quality possible. The Pharmaceutical Services also promote rational use of essential medicines and advocate for the prevention of antibiotic resistance and other issues such as better access to formulations for children in essential drugs.
Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network
Since 1959 DIFAEM has developed its Pharmaceutical Services, initially providing basic supplies for mission hospitals and later developing and strengthening local pharmaceutical services especially in Africa. This led to the development of the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network (EPN) that operates today in more than 30 countries with church-based drug supply organizations that provide quality pharmaceutical services especially in the African context.
Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network EPN >
Links
Contact
Albert Petersen
Team Leader Pharmaceutical Services
Tel.: +49 7071 206-531
Fax: +49 7071 206-510
E-Mail: petersen.amh(at)difaem.de
