The World Health Organization has begun a week-long mission in Sri Lanka to help national authorities develop a National Action Plan aimed at tackling substandard, falsified and unregistered health products, WHO Sri Lanka said.
The programme opened with a high-level meeting involving the Chief Executive Officer of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) and senior officials. Discussions focused on strengthening market-control mechanisms and identifying priority measures to prevent, detect and respond to unsafe medical products. WHO Sri Lanka said technical consultations were also held with NMRA teams to refine key components of the draft plan.
Substandard and falsified medicines — products that either fail to meet quality standards or are deliberately misrepresented — are a recognised global health risk, and the NMRA is the lead regulator for medicine quality, registration and pricing in Sri Lanka. The initiative comes amid sustained strain on the local pharmaceutical supply chain: the Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry has warned of import-driven medicine shortages, while customs officers have recently intercepted unregistered medicines smuggled into the country. It also follows broader WHO engagement with Sri Lanka’s health system.
