Zimbabwe signs Treaty on the establishment of the African Medicines Agency

The AU Assembly on 11 February 2019 adopted what is now referred to as the AMA Treaty. This Treaty serves to support the establishment of the Africans Medicines Agency whose main aim is to provide access to quality, safe and efficacious medical product in Africa.

A minimum of 15 Member States are needed to ratify the AMA Treaty in their national parliaments, for AMA to come into force.

Thus far 19 AU members, have signed this treaty and Zimbabwe is the most recent country to have made this move. Although 19 states have signed, just six have ratified the AMA treaty thereby  9 more need to ratify in order for AMA to be established.

Below is a list of the African states that have signed the AMA Treaty thus far:

• Rwanda– 12 June 2019
• Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic– 7 July 2019
• Algeria – 7 July 2019
• Madagascar – 1 August 2019
• Ghana – 2 August 2019
• Mali– 29 October 2019
• Benin– 3 December 2019
• Tunisia – 19 December 2019
• Morocco – 22 December 2019
• Senegal – 9 January 2020
• Chad – 24 January 2020
• Guinea – 7 February 2020
• Seychelles – 9 February 2020
• Niger – 9 February 2020
• Sierra Leone– 10 February 2020
• Gabon – 20 April 2020

 

Taonga Mushayavanhu, Zimbabwean ambassador to Ethiopia and the AU, represented the country at the signing ceremony. At the occasion he affirmed that the nation would soon be ratifying the AMA Treaty.

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