TMDA laboratory participates in different regional collaboration and harmonization initiatives which facilitates collaboration with other member states to regulate medicines, medical devices, and diagnostics products.
TMDA Quality Control laboratory is a member of African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) and African Medicine Quality Forum (AMQF), an overview is provided below:
African Society for Laboratory Medicine
The African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) is an international organisation founded in March 2011 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The ASLM coordinates, galvanises, and mobilises relevant stakeholders at the local, national, and international levels to improve local access to world-class diagnostic services and ensure healthy African communities at present and in the long-term.
For more information please visit Home - African Society for Laboratory Medicine (aslm.org)
African Medicine Quality Forum (AMQF)
The African Medicines Quality Forum (AMQF) is the quality control (QC) voice of African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization (AMRH) and plays a key role in all medicine’s QC related issues in Africa. It is a platform for a holistic continental quality control agenda that:
- Facilitates sharing of best practices;
- Promotes cooperation among National Quality Control Laboratories (NQCLs);
- Sets conformity assessment standards;
- Provides technical leadership in quality control; and
- Serves as an advocacy platform to raise the national and international visibility of NQCLs.
Technical issues are managed by an AMQF Technical Working Group (AMQF-TWG) which comprises members from:
Cameroun, LANACOME; Cote d’Ivoire, LNSP; Ethiopia, FMHACA; Ghana, FDA Ghana; Mali, LNS; Morocco, LNCM; Nigeria, NAFDAC (Yaba Central NDQCL); South Africa, CENQAM; Tanzania, TMDA; Tunisia; Uganda, NDQCL; Zambia, NDQCL; Zimbabwe, MCAZ
For mor information please visit https://amrh.nepad.org/african-medicines-quality-forum
Advantages of these initiatives are:
- Improved efficiency of regulatory processes;
- Harmonized standards are implemented and respected by participating regulatory authorities and thus building confidence and/or reliance among them;
- It facilitates trade activities and create common market among the member states; and
- Enables capacity building and sharing of knowledge on regulatory functions.