According to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoHCDGEC), Dr Mpoki Ulisubisya, although Tanzania has seen significant improvements in health outcomes, the need for policy coherence in the area of access to and delivery of health technologies, remained a priority. “Tanzania has seen significant improvements in health outcomes.
For instance, the country has reached the Millennium Development Goal (MDG), target on child mortality, with infant mortality reduced almost by half, between 1996 and 2010. During the same time period, the under-five mortality rate also fell from 137 to 81 deaths per 1,000 live births,” he said. “But there is more to be done. We have now embarked on a new global development chapter, the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs.
The SDGs are comprehensive and ambitious and this is a reflection of the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of the health and development landscape,” he said when addressing a two-days stakeholder consultation in Dar es Salaam recently.
In line with the approach of the SDGs, Dr Ulisubisya highlighted that Tanzania’s national strategic plans, including the Tanzania Development Vision 2025 and the Health Sector Strategic Plans (HSSP), have also identified the need for a sustainable health delivery system as a national development priority. “The existence of a policy and regulatory framework to guide us towards these policy goals will be key.
In this case, there is a need to ensure policy coherence, given that these goals will intersect with sectors beyond public health,” he said. For instance, Tanzania is looking to ensuring that health policies that seek to ensure accessibility and affordability of essential medicines are not hindered by other policies or rules in the different sectors, such as trade, industry or intellectual property.
In other words, there is a need to ensure policy coherence and alignment across the sectors, so that national policy goals and objectives are achieved. “I believe that Tanzania is well positioned to make major advances to reduce, given the demonstrated commitment and strong programmatic experience of the government. I agree with the aim of the workshop, which is to identify the areas for policy or legal change in order to achieve greater policy alignment,” Dr Ulisubisya added.
On her part, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Country Director Ms Awa Dabo stressed that better understanding of the implications of inter-related and inter-linked issues, coupled with better communications and coordination between the government agencies and stakeholders will be crucial in developing a conducive framework for ensuring sustainable, affordable access to health technologies.
“This approach is in line with that of UNDP’s objective to support the Government of Tanzania in addressing the country’s health and development priorities - from peace building and good governance, to poverty reduction and sustainable development,” she said.
The workshop was supported by the Access and Delivery Partnership (ADP), which brings together the UNDP, the World Health Organisation Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (WHO/TDR), and the Program for Appropriate Technologies in Health (PATH), to provide technical assistance to strengthen capacity.
Funded by the Government of Japan, the ADP supports low-and middle-income countries to strengthen decision-making capacities to address the range of inter-linked factors along the entire value-chain of innovation, introduction and integration of new health technologies for TB, malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
In Tanzania, the ADP has worked with government agencies and stakeholders to implement an integrated approach in access and delivery, addressing the different aspects of health systems strengthening.
This is an approach that is consistent with the approach the Government is taking, and that this meeting is taking forward. In addition, through the auspices of the ADP, UNDP commissioned a study to review the feasibility and prospects of policy alignment, taking into account Tanzania’s specific national context and needs.
The background study identified five areas for policy or legal reform, in order to achieve greater policy alignment including legal protection of citizen’s fundamental right to health, public-health related flexibilities within the intellectual property system, regulatory framework on medicines, local pharmaceutical production and domestic innovation and Research and Development (R&D).
Key participants of the consultations include policy makers and technical staff from the MoHCDGEC; Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology; Ministry of Industry and Trade and Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, as well as those from departments within these ministries including the Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA), Medical Stores Department (MSD), Pharmaceutical Services Section (PSS), the national control programmes for NTDs, Malaria and TB, and the National Institute of Medical Research and the Business Registration and Licensing Agency (BRELA).
The consultation is expected to spur improved sensitization and understanding among policy makers and stakeholders of the key crosscutting issues and policy measures needed to facilitate greater multi-sectoral coherence and alignment with East African Community (EAC) and African Union (AU), frameworks, relating to innovation and R&D, local pharmaceutical production, intellectual property protection and medicines regulatory framework.
It is also expected to spur improved communication, collaboration and learning between participants from multifarious sectors and disciplines, promoting multi-stakeholder and multi-sectorial engagement, which will be necessary for effective decision making.
In addition, identification of policy and strategic priorities and action for promoting a more coherent and integrated approach towards policy- and decision-making on the issues discussed above. This may include an agreement to establish a multi-stakeholder platform, such as an inter-ministerial committee or working group, to oversee and coordinate the implementation of identified key actions or reform of the policy and legal framework in Tanzania.
The policy and legal framework in Tanzania also operates within a broader context of the African continental and Sub-regional initiatives and priorities. The current policy focus on promoting local pharmaceuticals production for greater access and security of supply is in line with the promotion of African-led and sourced solutions to respond to the changing global context of economic crises and shrinking development aid.
While the African Union has taken the lead in developing the African Union Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Plan for Africa (AU-PMPA), there has also been active engagement at the sub-regional level, such as that the East African Community (EAC).
These continental and sub-regional frameworks thus provide strategic and policy guidance to policy makers in Tanzania, on a range of cross-cutting issues from R&D, intellectual property, drug regulation and local pharmaceuticals production.
The participants of Policy Coherence for Health Technology Access and Delivery recommended that in short term plan from 2016-2021 five years plan should prioritize local pharmaceutical manufacturing by focusing on improving industrial infrastructure, and generate more industrial pharmacists, managers and chemical engineers, building engineers capacity programme for calibration and related services.
On the issue of facilitation of increased investment in pharmaceutical production at the national level, the participants also recommended on setting up financial institutions with a scheme to support investment in the sector focusing on soft loans. “Tanzania Investment Bank (TIB) should open up a new window for investment in the pharmaceutical sector and mechanism to support domestic investment, among others,” the participants recommended.
A UNITED Nations Development Programme Practice Specialist HIV/AIDS, Mr Bwijo Bwijo speaks at the Consultation on Policy Coherence for Health Technology Access and Delivery in Dar es Salaam recently. (File photo)
This news story was originally posted on Daily News site: http://dailynews.co.tz/index.php/features/48572-why-policy-coherence-is-vital-in-health-service-development