Angola  
The U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing support to improve Angola’s health care service delivery and to expand access to health care through key programs of the Ministry of Health (MOH) (Ministerio de Saúde—MINSA). These programs include the National AIDS Control Program (Instituto Nacional de Luta contra o Sida—INLS), the National Malaria Control Program (Programa Nacional de Controlo da Malaria-PNCM), the National Tuberculosis Control Program (NTP), and the Family Planning/Reproductive Health (RH/FP) Program. MOH’s National Directorate of Medicines and Equipment (Direcção Nacional de Medicamentos e Equipamentos–DNME) and National Essential Medicines Program (Programa Nacional de Medicamentos Essenciais–PNME) oversee and coordinate procurement, management, and use of essential medicines and health commodities. With USAID/President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) support, Management Sciences for Health (MSH)’s Rational Pharmaceutical Management (RPM) Plus and the follow-on Strengthening Pharmaceutical Systems (SPS) Program have collaborated with and provided technical assistance to MOH’s PNME, PNCM, and other key programs to strengthen pharmaceutical management and improve the availability and proper use of antimalarial medicines and related health commodities in Angola since 2005. In addition to PMI funds, USAID/Angola provided the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and Reproductive Health/Family Planning Population (RH/FP POP) field funding in 2009 and 2010 in an effort to integrate technical support across key MoH programs.
 

With additional PEPFAR and RH/FP field funding that has been available since 2009 and 2010, respectively, the technical assistance is now being integrated to strengthen management of essential medicines and commodities across key MOH programs, including HIV/AIDS, malaria, and reproductive health. SPS collaborates, coordinates, and leverages resources with key MOH programs and local partners to identify gaps and develop and implement appropriate, locally-led interventions to–

  • Strengthen MOH’s pharmaceutical management systems to ensure availability of essential public health commodities. This includes pharmaceutical policy; selection and quantification; building MOH human resources capacity to manage key essential medicines and commodities; pharmaceutical management information systems; supportive supervision of health workers; implementing strategic monitoring tools to inform effective decision-making and supporting local partners’ efforts to ensure rational procurement; and distribution and use of essential public health commodities.
  • Promote the rational use of medicines
  • Strengthen the capacity of the national pharmacovigilance system to improve the safety of medicines used in Angola
  • Improve coordination among local pharmaceutical management stakeholders

These activities contribute to SPS overall result areas––improving governance in the pharmaceutical sector, strengthening pharmaceutical management systems to support public health services, and containing the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance.

Last Updated: 07 October 2011