Making the investment case for national regulatory authorities

Well-functioning national regulatory authorities (NRAs) ensure access to safe, efective, quality-assured, and afordable medical products. However, the benefts of their work are often unseen and difcult to attribute, thereby making NRAs undervalued and under-resourced, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This paper ofers three key arguments NRAs and other stakeholders can use to advocate for greater investment in regulatory systems strengthening—medical products regulation efectively safeguards public health; efective regulation improves health system’s efciency by increasing access to afordable medical products, contributing to universal health coverage; and robust regulation strengthens local pharmaceutical manufacturing and bolsters pharmaceutical trade. NRAs’ critical role in health systems is indisputable, yet they need to better promote their value to receive the requisite resources to function efectively.

Well-functioning national regulatory authorities (NRAs) ensure access to safe, efective, quality-assured, and afordable medical products. However, the benefts of their work are often unseen and difcult to attribute, thereby making NRAs undervalued and under-resourced, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This paper ofers three key arguments NRAs and other stakeholders can use to advocate for greater investment in regulatory systems strengthening—medical products regulation efectively safeguards public health; efective regulation improves health system’s efciency by increasing access to afordable medical products, contributing to universal health coverage; and robust regulation strengthens local pharmaceutical manufacturing and bolsters pharmaceutical trade. NRAs’ critical role in health systems is indisputable, yet they need to better promote their value to receive the requisite resources to function efectively.