Effectiveness of National Drug Policies in the West African Region

Lives are saved when there are medicines which are accessible, affordable and of good quality. WHO has long recognized the important role of national drug policies in ensuring availability, rational use and quality of medicines. This is because the pharmaceutical sector is one of the most complicated in most countries. Policy objectives are sometimes contradictory and there are many stakeholders with conflicting interests. WHO believes that the problems of the pharmaceutical sector can be addressed within a common framework since piecemeal approaches may leave some important problems unsolved and thus ineffective.