Strategic Framework for the National Medicines and Food Board (NMFB) 2013 - 2016

The Board's mandate is to ensure access to affordable, safe, and effective quality-assured medicines and related products, as well as food safety. The NMFB's strategic plan for 2013-2016 aims to provide a framework for achieving its mandate. The plan has been developed through consultations with the NMFB Board, its two Committees, and other stakeholders. The NMFB's vision is to ensure the safety, effectiveness, and quality of medicines and food in Afghanistan. The overall goal is to ensure the safety, quality, and effectiveness of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, cosmetics, sanitation equipment, and traditional pharmaceuticals, as well as to ensure the safety and quality of food products and prevent their unnecessary and unsafe production, manufacture, importation, distribution, sale, and use in Afghanistan. The NMFB's values and principles include protecting public health, ensuring the safety, effectiveness, and quality of imported and locally produced medicines, ensuring the quality of imported and locally produced food and balanced diet, reducing environmental risks, protecting human dignity, equity in providing health services, and reducing health financial risks. The strategic directions outlined in the plan include ensuring an appropriate operational framework for medicines and food by 2016, promoting and facilitating capacity building for medicines and food regulatory systems, ensuring 60% of funding needs are met by 2016, and promoting and facilitating system performance for medicines and food regulation. To achieve these objectives, the NMFB will facilitate and coordinate the update or development of national policies, such as the National Medicines Policy, Quality Assurance Policies for food and medicine, National Food Policy, and national food safety control strategy. The Board will also facilitate and coordinate the development or update of the legal framework for medicines and food, as well as information sharing among regulators and implementers on pharmaceutical and food-related issues. The plan will be implemented within the existing policy, regulatory, institutional, coordination, and monitoring and evaluation frameworks. Specific measures will be pursued to review and strengthen these frameworks to ensure successful implementation of the plan. Implementation will follow the principles of results-based management, with a focus on achieving specific outputs and outcomes, timely and efficiently. The NMFB's strategic plan for 2013-2016 aims to strengthen the pharmaceutical and food regulatory system in Afghanistan, ensuring access to affordable, safe, and effective quality-assured medicines and related products, as well as food safety. The plan's implementation will be crucial in achieving the Ministry of Public Health's aim of providing equitable, affordable, and sustainable quality support services, including those for pharmaceuticals.