Management Sciences for Health to Improve Access to Affordable Medicines and Health Services in Multiple Countries

October 29, 2018

Management Sciences for Health to Improve Access to Affordable Medicines and Health Services in Multiple Countries

A five-year program to focus on access to essential medical products, pharmaceutical-sector governance, and expansion of patient-centered pharmaceutical services 

Arlington, VA—October 29, 2018—Management Sciences for Health (MSH) announced today that it has been selected by USAID to strengthen the pharmaceutical system in a number of low- and middle-income countries. The five-year program—Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS)—will work in coordination with international and local partners to expand access to and appropriate use of safe, effective, quality-assured, affordable essential medical products and services.

“We are delighted for the opportunity to continue our work to strengthening the pharmaceutical systems of many low- and middle-income countries, and we thank USAID for its vote of confidence in our ability to bring decades of experience to bear on this important component of a resilient and sustainable health system,” said Marian W. Wentworth, MSH’s President and CEO. “In implementing the program, MSH will take an integrated health systems strengthening approach, helping countries sustainably make progress toward self-reliance.”

The program builds on its predecessor, the Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) program, which MSH implemented across 46 countries with remarkable results toward better access to affordable, quality essential medicines and related services, and reflects USAID’s continuing focus on strengthening pharmaceutical systems.

As a key component of its initial work, MTaPS will support USAID’s efforts under the Global Health Security Agenda to improve infection prevention and control and combat antimicrobial resistance, helping countries build their capacity to be safe from infectious disease threats and to raise global health security as a national and global priority. 

Other program goals include strengthening pharmaceutical system governance; building institutional and human resource capacity for pharmaceutical management and services, including regulation of medical products; financing and resource allocation, including medicine benefits programs; information for decision making and global learning; and patient-centered services that increase treatment safety and effectiveness.

“Our goal is to ensure that each country’s pharmaceutical system contributes to positive health outcomes,” said Douglas Keene, MSH’s Vice President for the Pharmaceuticals and Health Technologies Group. “We will support countries to develop policies and financing and regulatory frameworks and to build capacity to make sure that medicines and related products are available and are prescribed and used appropriately.”

“We’re excited to build upon our prior USAID-funded work in pharmaceutical systems strengthening to the critical next step of ensuring that, in addition to building strong medicine supply systems, there is continued focus on patient-centered pharmaceutical care systems that contribute to desired health outcomes and universal health coverage,” added Kofi Aboagye-Nyame, MTaPS Program Director.

Core implementing partners include Boston University, FHI 360, Overseas Strategic Consulting, Results for Development, International Law Institute – African Centre for Legal Excellence, NEPAD, and many other global experts and regional organizations. 


About MTaPS

The goal of MTaPS is to enable low- and middle-income countries to strengthen their pharmaceutical systems to ensure sustainable access to and appropriate use of safe, effective, quality-assured, and affordable essential medicines and medicine-related pharmaceutical services. Toward this end, the MTaPS result areas include strengthening pharmaceutical sector governance; increasing institutional and human resource capacity for pharmaceutical management and services, including regulation of medical products; increasing availability and use of pharmaceutical information for decision making and advancing the global learning agenda; optimizing pharmaceutical-sector financing, including resource allocation and use; and improving pharmaceutical services, including product availability and patient-centered care, to achieve desired health outcomes.