PPRI Africa
GÖG supports public authorities in Africa in strengthening pricing and reimbursement policies
Many African countries currently have pharmaceutical reimbursement and pricing policies in place and/or are working on establishing such policies. However, given the variation in implementation of such policies among the countries, exchange on how policies to best adapt pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policies to a specific country context is essential.
The PPRI Africa network aims to allow African public authorities working on pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceuticals to learn about policies, compare implemented mechanisms and improve their targeted national implementation with respect to regional contexts and to better manage the impact of pharmaceutical prices on the public and private budgets. The project contributes improving patient access to essential medicines and ultimately to enhanced health outcomes for the populations.
Given the experience through the coordination of the wider PPRI network by the Pharmacoeconomics Department at the Austrian National Public Health Institute (Gesundheit Österreich GmbH / GÖG), a project was commissioned by ENABEL to GÖG for the setup of an African Network of Authorities working on Pricing and Reimbursement Policies (PPRI Africa). The PPRI Africa Secretariat works under the umbrella of the Team Europe Initiative on manufacturing and access to vaccines, medicines and health technologies in Africa (TEI MAV+).
Experts of the Pharmacoeconomics Department, which is a designated WHO Collaborating Centre for Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Policies, constitute the PPRI Africa Secretariat. Besides supporting the network’s inauguration, they are responsible for providing assistance to the members, reaching out to potential new members, creating training content and materials and managing its overall functioning.
The PPRI Africa Network currently includes representatives from 14 public authorities working on pricing and reimbursement of African countries, as well as WHO Afro and Africa CDC.
A first onsite PPRI Africa network meeting took place in Dakar, Senegal in April 2025, kindly hosted by colleagues at the Agence sénégalaise de Réglementation Pharmaceutique (ARP) Senegal. During the first meeting, PPRI Africa members had the opportunity to present their country’s systems, exchange on current challenges and address potential solutions in terms of pharmaceutical policies to strengthen access to medicines.
Further activities during the first year of the network included online training sessions for authorities on prominent topics in the pharmaceutical policy context such as external price referencing, regulation of distribution margins or price data comparison, organised by the PPRI Africa secretariat. A second onsite meeting will take place in March 2026.
GÖG is proud to constitute the secretariat for the PPRI Africa network and thus facilitate the exchange between African countries on pharmaceutical policies. We are looking forward to seeing the network grow further in the future.
PPRI EECA
A regional PPRI network, the so-called PPRI EECA (Eastern Europe and Central Asia) network, has been established. This network is coordinated by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Policies at the Pharmacoeconomics Department and the WHO Regional Office for Europe.
Members of this network are representatives of public authorities in the field of medicines (particularly related to pricing, procurement and funding) in the Eastern European and Central Asian countries in the WHO European region: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan and Ukraine. Some members of the PPRI EECA network are also members of the large core PPRI network.
The PPRI EECA (formerly called CIS+) network started in 2017, with a meeting in Chisinau (Moldova) in June 2017. Working language is Russian. PPRI tools have been translated and adapted to the needs of the PPRI EECA network.
Activities and deliverables:
- Annual PPRI EECA network meetings
- Russian glossary
- Country posters on pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement systems
- PPRI EECA report ‘Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Systems in Eastern Europe and Central Asia’
- 5 years of PPRI EECA (brochure)
Further information provided by the WHO Regional Office for Europe:
http://www.euro.who.int/en/countries/russian-federation/news/news/2017/07/kick-off-meeting-of-network-on-pharmaceutical-pricing-and-reimbursement-policies-in-the-cis
http://www.euro.who.int/en/countries/republic-of-moldova/news/news/2018/18/strengthening-collaboration-for-affordable-medicines-in-cis-countries
Further regional PPRI networks
The PPRI secretariat has been in contact with further WHO regions (e.g. Africa, Americas, Western Pacific) and presented the model of PPRI, with a view of possibly supporting the establishment of further regional networks. For support of the PPRI secretariat in this field see https://ppri.goeg.at/supporting_networks.