Ethiopia Signs Treaty Establishing African Medicines Agency

ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia has inked the African Medicines Agency (AMA) Treaty, making it the 29th African Union Member State to sign the accord.

Health minister Dr. Lia Tadess signed the treaty for the establishment of the African Medicines Agency (AMA) at the headquarters of the African Union Commission (AUC).

Deputy Chairperson of the Commission, Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa has congratulated health minister Dr. Lia Tadesse on the signing of the AMA Treaty.

As per the treaty, the Agency would work to harmonize regulations on products such as drugs, vaccines, medical devices, blood products, diagnostic tools, and traditional medicine across Africa.

“The AMA will also complement national and regional efforts in developing robust, predictable, & efficient regulatory systems for medical products that have continental public health benefit,” said Dr. Lia.

The treaty to establish the Agency was adopted by African leaders during their meeting Addis Ababa in February, 2019.

The AMA came into force thirty days after the deposit of the 15th instrument of ratification of the treaty by Cameroon to the Commission last November.

The AUC, after receiving the 15th ratification instruments on Nov 9, said it “shall proceed towards the establishment and full operationalisation of the AMA at the earliest”.

The regional bloc is still urging all member states to sign and ratify the treaty for setting up of the second specialized after the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention or Africa CDC.

Ethiopia is one of the 29 member states of the AU to sign the treaty. The next move would be to ratify the Treaty and deposit the instrument of ratification of the AMA to the AU.