Towards improving access to medical devices through local production: Phase II: Report of a case study in four sub-Saharan countries

Appropriate, affordable and good quality medical devices are indispensable in healthcare services. They serve for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. In the context of the Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health Innovation and Intellectual Property, the World Health Organization (WHO) with support from the European Union developed this project report on medical devices access through local production. This report presents the second phase of activities of local production and technology transfer for medical devices (LPTTMD) project, as well as a situational analysis of the challenges in access to medical devices, technology transfer and local production of essential medical devices in four sub-Saharan countries (viz. Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania). The objectives of this project were to improve access to priority medical devices, present country case studies and develop a road map on activities to improve availability and consider local production where appropriate. Phase II reviewed the findings from the phase I survey with respect to barriers and challenges to access and applied the feasibility tool (revised from phase I) to enable strategic selection of a device of high public health importance that could be produced locally