Background and Purposes

Owing to fragile health systems, Africa has long been dogged by insufficient healthcare services and medicines and thus depend heavily on imported medical products. Under such circumstancers, it must increase its R&D input, ramp up its medical supply and improve pharmaceutical quality systems. That thus makes justifiable the creation of a pharmacopoeia. A legally-binding collection of standards and quality specifications for essential medicines prepared by a national or regional authority, a pharmacopoeia plays a crucial role in addressing salient issues in medicine quality and safety in a scientific, advanced and rigorous manner.

Our project team completed the Research Program on Africa Pharmacopeia in 2018 and 2019. With concerted efforts from all parties, the project team accomplished the goal as scheduled of creating the Africa Pharmacopeia, thanks to existing local research facilities and the help of local research specialists. The team proposed the  methods and standards of research on some plants indigenous to Ethiopia, and recommended universal standards for the Africa Pharmacopeia. Meanwhile, after visits to the Addis Ababa University (AAU), the World Bank and the Africa Food and Drug Administration during the project, the project team helped promote the establishment of AAU-CDT pharmaceutical research laboratory , and provided guidance and support to the lab in access to necessary facilities, thus making the Africa Pharmacopeia project a sustainable one in the long term. The team members included all the volunteer researchers on the team as well as a local doctoral candidate and a local post-doctor.

The creation of Africa Pharmacopeia has not only laid a solid foundation for China- Africa cooperation in health care but has lent fresh impetusto endogenous growth in African health care, and to African traditional medicine. Therefore, it has delivered benefit to the African people, advanced Chinese-African friendship and cooperation, and carried forward the “Beijing Action Plan - Health Care Action” initiative. In the new phase of project this year, the project team will train more African researchers, receive students from the AAU College of Health Sciences and CDT-Africa for studies at the School of Pharmacy of Shanghai Jiao Tong University while facilitating the progress in the completion of Africa Pharmacopeia.

General Outline

The project team will closely follow the developments of the Program, including academic research and establishment of the lab, and offer strong support in this regard.

Management Guidelines

1. Building out a project team of no more than 10 members, including project coordinators, researchers and students.

2.Deciding on the plant species to be studied this year before identifying research methods and standards of botanical drug products based on the species; ensuring the guidance of the universal version of African Pharmacopoeiathe; and supporting development of the CDT pharmaceutical research laboratory.

3. Developing ways to exchange ideas on a regular basis  and put in place a sound reporting system.