From 3 to 6 July 2024, Lomé hosted the 23rd International Pharmaceutical Forum (IPF) under the theme : “universal access to healthcare: challenges, issues and prospects for the pharmaceutical sector.” The opening ceremony was presided over by Prime Minister Victoire Tomégah-Dogbé on behalf of the President of the Republic, H.E. Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé.
On behalf of the Head of State, H.E.M. Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, the Head of the Government congratulated the organising committee for its attention and active involvement in the preparations towards the annual event, which aims to discuss ways to meet the needs of the healthcare systems.
The forum remains a unique platform for sharing and pooling ideas with a view to achieving a more socially serene future.
The forum provides an opportunity for participants to raise issues and propose solutions to improve care and support for the people. The international forum came at an opportune moment and serves as an ideal forum to pool energies from all players in the medical chain in order to build sustainable health insurance through better quality and affordable drugs.
“Affordability should not be a taboo, nor should the crucial role of research and pharmaceutical laboratories,” insisted the Head of Government.
“Born of the Head of State’s vision to guarantee fair access to healthcare for the population, universal access to healthcare was introduced in Togo since 2011. It provides for a compulsory health insurance scheme for civil servants and their relatives and for the establishment of the National Health Insurance Institute. Such a success story, which seeks to cast its nets wide and cover the entire country, could not have been written without you, the health professionals. Although we are still grappling with daunting challenges in the face of growing social needs, access and healthcare supply and indeed meeting the demand for it remain a priority,” said the Prime Minister.
Because the scourge of fake and substandard drugs prevails in African countries, the forum has been supporting various national and continental initiatives in the sector, such as the Bamako initiative, which was launched in 1987, the Cotonou appeal against fake drugs in 2009, and the Lomé initiative in 2020.
This is the second time that Togo is hosting the International Pharmaceutical Forum. Its 8th edition, the first of its kind, was held in Lomé in 2007.
