Collaborating Center for Pharmaceutical Policies is redesigned by PAHO

The Department of Policies for Pharmaceutical Drugs and Assistance (NAF) of the National School of Public Health (Ensp/Fiocruz) has been redesignated as a Collaborating Center of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), part of the World Health Organization (WHO), in the area of Pharmaceutical Policies, at the end of 2019. Granted for the sixth time in a row, the redesignation is valid for a four-year period. The role played by NAF as a PAHO Collaborating Center consists in supporting the formulation and implementation of pharmaceutical policies in different countries of the Americas and of the world, based on official WHO documents.

“We consider this redesignation the acknowledgement of the activities we have developed and to the excellence of Ensp and of Fiocruz in the S&T and pharmaceutical assistance areas. We have great expectations regarding the challenge of facing yet another four-year period of a lot of dedication and hard work, but we are also confident that we are helping improve health conditions among our populations”, states the head of NAF, Jorge Bermudez.

The coordinator of the PAHO Collaborating Center, Vera Lucia Luiza, explains that at each renewal, NAF is carefully assessed. In addition to analysing the fulfilling of the previous plan, another aspect taken into account is the department’s technical-scientific ability to carry out the plan for the new four-year period and its conformity with WHO’s planning and principles. “We are very happy to receive this redesignation, as it gives us the chance to collaborate with different countries from all over the world, for better access to health in general and to pharmaceutical drugs in particular”, celebrates Vera.