Quality

The Coalition has, for a number of years, supported efforts to facilitate the entry into the global market of quality-assured products that meet World Health Organization Prequalification Programme product guidelines or are approved by Stringent Regulatory Authorities. While it is not in the Coalition’s manageable interest to directly address manufacturers’ production or procurement needs, our convening power and brand name offer manufacturers and the wider community a global platform for raising concerns, encouraging the market entry of generic manufacturers and sharing production and consumption data with the aim of increasing the supply of quality-assured products―both generic and innovator.

Ensuring quality also depends on making sure that those who consume—procurers or actual users— care about quality and reflect these preferences in transmitting purchase requirements upward along the supply chain. Once again, the Coalition is well positioned to put a human face on a concept that is all too often perceived as too technical and beyond the reach of the ordinary person. Working with partners on the ground, the Coalition can encourage consumers, program managers, and policymakers to demand quality-assured products—framing quality as a heath concern, a human rights issue, and a solid business decision.

In the final instance, adequate supplies of quality-assured products depend on the presence and application of national procurement policies that recognize and reward quality assurance. Private sector consumers may vote with their pocketbooks, users of the public sector through the ballot box; but those voices only have meaning if they are backed-up by strong policies that recognize quality as desirable. Through country partners and global stakeholders, the Coalition can work to ensure that policies supporting quality are in place.