IntraHealth International and our partners are working to strengthen medical product quality assurance systems to mitigate the proliferation of substandard or falsified medical products. With a $160 million cooperative agreement, funded by the United States Agency for International Development, the Promoting the Quality of Medicines Plus (PQM+) project sustainably improves medical product quality insurance systems through technical leadership and global advocacy, collaborating with international partners, and providing support to integrate quality-assurance systems for medical products within participating countries.

Substandard and falsified medical products represent a significant public health threat in some low- and middle-income countries. They waste scarce resources, undercut the market for pharmaceutical manufacturers of quality-assured medical products, erode the public’s confidence in the health system, and risk undermining past, current, and future investments.

Improving quality-assurance systems for medical products improves health, productivity, economic growth, and social stability in low- and middle-income countries.

To do this, the project:

1. Strengthens governance principles
2. Improves the capacity of country and regional institutions and stakeholders to support regular in-country quality-assurance activities
3. Supports medical product quality-assurance efforts through optimized information systems and financial and human resources in the private and public sectors
4. Generates, invests, and uses limited health resources efficiently
5. Develops and applies evidence-based approaches that build on existing health systems and integrate current and future health-sector goals and reforms

IntraHealth International is a core partner in PQM+ and leads health workforce development and capacity-building of local partners for transition awards.

Locally-based partners are Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences; Center for Drug Discovery, Development and Production at the University of Ibadan; Addis Ababa University School of Pharmacy-Regional Bioequivalence Center; Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network; Mahidol University; and Association of Southeast Asian Nations Network for Drugs, Diagnostics and Vaccines Innovation (ASEAN-NDI); as well as several technical resource partners.