Access to safe and effective contraceptives, medicines and equipment
UNFPA places a high priority on reproductive health commodity security, which means that all individuals have access to affordable, quality sexual and reproductive health supplies of their choice whenever they need them.
UNFPA is committed to procuring quality RH products and therefore evaluates and prequalifies suppliers based on internationally recognized quality standards before entering into any contractual agreements.
UNFPA quality assurance activities follow a systematic process to ensure that RH products meet specified requirements and standards. Quality assurance activities include prequalification, technical evaluations, quality control, and monitoring. Quality control refers to a set of activities to determine whether the specified standards are being maintained through inspection, sampling, and laboratory testing.
Read more about UNFPA quality assurance processes:
- Reproductive Health Medicines (including hormonal contraceptives)
- Male Latex Condoms
- Post Shipment Testing of Male Condoms
- Female Condoms
- TCu380A IUD
- Medical Devices
- Green Procurement Strategy
- QA procurers meeting reports
Capacity building
As part of its commitment to ensuring that all individuals have access to affordable, quality-assured reproductive health and family planning supplies, UNFPA Procurement Services Branch offers procurement capacity building in the form of technical support, training, and mentoring activities for key stakeholders in the production and regulation of RH commodities. This capacity building is available to manufacturers, national regulatory authorities, national quality control laboratories, and other similar bodies. Current capacity building initiatives include:
- Participation in inter-agency meetings such as the annual quality of RH medicines and contraceptive devices inviting attendees from donor governments, WHO, other UN agencies, NGOs and other international development organizations;
- Facilitation of collaboration and cooperation of UN agencies, National Regulatory Agencies, and testing laboratories through the AfroCondomNet;
- Conducting regional workshops in conjunction with WHO on the laboratory quality control for RH products;
- Transfer of skills both on the assessment of technical file of male condoms and on inspections of male condom manufacturers
UNFPA is also available to provide quality assurance capacity building support in regards to quality assurance to third parties upon request. Examples of such support include consultation on quality assurance issues, training, and policy development.