23 Feb SAHPRA hosts Regional QMS Technical Working Group Workshop
Pretoria, 23 February 2023 – The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) hosted the Regional Quality Management Systems (QMS) Technical Working Group Workshop during 20 – 23 February 2023 at Protea Hotel – OR Tambo Airport. The participating countries included: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The aim of the workshop was to develop and strengthen regional collaboration efforts on implementation of robust quality management systems and risk management. The participating regulatory agencies are working towards the attainment of Maturity Level 3 (ML3) and an effective QMS is a critical success factor, and a sound base that supports all the regulatory functions.
The workshop allowed various participating regulatory agencies to share lessons learned from various stages of their QMS implementation. This harmonisation ensures that skills are transferred within regional regulatory agencies.
The financial support of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has enabled the work of the regional QMS Technical Working Group. A platform has now been created to commence with knowledge sharing of best practices and active collaborations in QMS internal audits using resources with regulatory expertise.
The QMS Technical Working Group plans to convene to work on certain key focus areas to assist and support each other with key activities in preparation for GBT assessments.