The World Local Production Forum (WLPF) is a WHO initiative providing Member States and the global community with a sustainable platform to shape the strategy, galvanize collective action and foster global coordination and partnerships on sustainable local production to improve timely and equitable access to quality assured health products.
It partnered with the Government of the Netherlands on this important work by convening an international meeting on 6-8 November. Amongst topics covered were strengthening ecosystems and manufacturing capacity, addressing policy challenges and operational bottlenecks and leveraging existing initiatives and partnerships.
The WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom-Ghebreyesus opened with a strong message to delegates willing them to recognize that 'expanding local production, and strengthening local regulatory capacity, are essential for reducing health inequities between and within countries - not only for the pandemics of tomorrow, but to treat the diseases of today'. He added 'Access to high-quality medicines is a key priority for WHO, and for our Member States'.
This second meeting of the World Local Production Forum builds on that convened in 2021 which saw strong opportunities for collaboration including the emphasis of the significance of equitable access to health products, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Panelists highlighted the need for broad stakeholder participation in future events and endorsed collaboration to address the COVID-19 pandemic effectively. Diversifying manufacturing capacity, enhancing supply chain resilience, maintaining quality standards, and ensuring access to internationally recognized health products were stressed as essential outcomes of strengthening local production. The regional dimension was also recognized as vital for sustainable local production. The first forum concluded with the acknowledgment that regional and local production sites are required globally, and the Netherlands will host the next WLPF.
Dr Tedros clearly outline five practical areas of focus for governments to address, along with the support of WHO and other partners, to foster an ecosystem for local production. They are:
- Provide an enabling environment, with policies and regulations to streamline approval processes, provide incentives for local production, and ensure compliance with quality standards.
- Provide investment and funding, through grants, tax incentives, or low-interest loans to encourage private sector participation in local manufacturing.
- Facilitate the exchange of knowledge and technology between the public and private sectors, by promoting research collaboration, and supporting the transfer of manufacturing know-how.
- Build the capacity of the workforce, through training programmes to increase quality, improve efficiency, and foster innovation.
- Ensure market access for local manufacturers, by improving supply chain management and expanding market reach.
He iterated that if we can do all this, the sustainability of local production will be guaranteed.
Jicui Dong, Head of Secretariat for the WLPF said 'this second WLPF will bring the global community together to foster global coordination, collaborations and synergies, discuss key challenges and seek solutions to tackle the bottlenecks in strengthening sustainable local production capacity and technology transfer to improve timely, equitable access to quality, safe and effective health products and technologies'.
Over the past two decades, there has been an increasing emphasis on the importance of local production and related technology transfer in the context of promoting equitable access to medicines and other health technologies. Not least during the COVID 19 pandemic which cruelly illustrated the state of inequity to vaccines, medicines and health technologies and exposed the gaps in local production that could help to close the access gaps.
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The WLPF serves as a platform to generate actionable recommendations and outcomes that support local production, with a focus on improving access to quality, safe, and effective health products, and strengthening global, regional, and national health security. It aims to emphasize the importance of health product production as a vital long-term infrastructure and promote the implementation of the resolution WHA74.6 and the first interagency statement on promoting local production which emphasize and recognize the need to strengthening local production of medicines and other health technologies to improve access.
More information including the agenda can be found here.
