Celebrating Success in Guinea

The USAID Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) Program began working with Guinea’s Ministry of Health in February 2012 to help expand malaria prevention and treatment programs and strengthen the country’s pharmaceutical systems. To support these two objectives, SIAPS provided technical assistance to strengthen governance in the pharmaceutical sector, enhance the availability of pharmaceutical management information systems at all levels of the health system, and improve capacity for pharmaceutical supply management and services.

Despite the Ebola outbreak and the challenges posed by the epidemic, SIAPS continued providing assistance to country counterparts to improve the implementation of activities to control malaria.

As SIAPS concluded its work in Guinea this year, the program’s successes were celebrated at a closing ceremony in Conakry on September 20, 2017, chaired by the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdourahmane Diallo, and by the USAID Mission Director to Guinea, Ms. Barbara Dickerson.

During the event, Dr. Marie Paule Fargier, SIAPS Guinea Country Project Director, and staff members presented the achievements of the program. These included refining the country’s National List of Essential Medicines and treatment flow charts, establishing a national logistics management system and a Unit for Logistical Management of Health Commodities (UGL), and successfully training key members of the Programme Nationale de Lutte contre le Paludisme (PNLP) on tools and procedures required for developing forecasts and procurement using the web-based tool Quantimed.

In her address, Ms. Dickerson reflected on the achievements and impact of the SIAPS program:

“During the project’s lifetime, the Ministry of Health, the legislature, the experts, and contractors provided concrete support for the reform policy initiated by the Guinean Health Authorities for several years. Within this framework, the SIAPS program’s mission was to support the PNLP in managing commodities that are essential for the diagnosis and treatment of malaria. This work was coupled with the implementation of an epidemiological information system that made it possible to have precise data on malaria that did not exist in 2011.”

Ms. Dickerson added that the project developed an approach to strengthen the Ministry of Health’s institutions. This put the Central Pharmacies of Guinea at the core of SIAPS’ activity, with the project training more than 1,000 people around the country to manage pharmaceuticals and improve pharmaceutical management practices through the “Medicines for All” training, as well as training on managing Ebola commodities and essential medicines and on the Procedure de Logistique Integrée manual.

On behalf of the Guinean government, Dr. Diallo thanked the American authorities for funding this program in Guinea. He stated that:

“This project was active for six years in Guinea and it has impacted every component of pharmaceutical product management and of the supply chain. Starting from governance, the program contributed to the development of strategic documents for the Republic of Guinea, such as the pharmaceutical law that was modified recently and the manual for pharmaceutical product management. At the Central Pharmacy level, the program also contributed to strengthening and improving management capacities.… This project had a positive impact for all the components of pharmaceutical management and we are greatly satisfied by the results recorded in our country.”

Members of the Central Pharmacy of Guinea, as well as coordinators from the UGL and the PNLP, also spoke during this event and reported on the progress made through SIAPS’ expertise and trainings. Dr. Moussa Konate, Director General of the Central Pharmacy of Guinea, appreciated the value of SIAPS’ contributions to the pharmaceutical world in Guinea. He noted that SIAPS provided a modern and proficient software tool to his directorate that helps them function efficiently.