The Agence nationale de régulation pharmaceutique (ANRP), now operating as Faso FDA, has asked technical and financial partners to support its drive to reach WHO Maturity Level 3 (ML3) in medicines regulation and to develop domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Director General Dr Arsène Ouédraogo presented the authority’s mandate at a monthly partners’ meeting on 29 October 2026, held at the WHO office in Ouagadougou. The meeting brought together technical and financial partners (PTF) working in Burkina Faso’s health sector.
Faso FDA was formed from the merger of the ANRP and the food safety agency ANSSEAT. It now serves as the national reference institution for regulation, quality control and health surveillance of pharmaceutical and food products for humans and animals, including sanitary police functions and counterfeit product control.
Dr Ouédraogo outlined the authority’s ambition to reach ML3, the WHO’s third tier of regulatory system maturity. This level indicates a stable, well-functioning regulatory system with developed procedures and the capacity to implement them consistently. The authority said this would strengthen national regulatory capacity and create conditions favourable to developing local health product manufacturing.
The Director General requested partner support to consolidate regulatory, quality control and health surveillance capacities, and to back initiatives contributing to national pharmaceutical industry development. He told partners that “a strong regulator protects investments as much as populations,” and reaffirmed Faso FDA’s commitment to transparency and accountability.
Partners welcomed the ML3 initiative. Discussions covered mechanisms and procedures to reach the target, funding mutualisation, private sector contribution, and control of restaurants and domestically manufactured food products. Partners expressed readiness to accompany Faso FDA in fulfilling its missions for public health and health sovereignty.
Source: Agence nationale de régulation pharmaceutique (ANRP) via Faso FDA, “Santé publique : Faso FDA mobilise les partenaires techniques et financiers autour de ses priorités stratégiques”, 1 November 2026: https://fasofda.bf/fr/appGestion/listeCategoriePublic/1464a070-1063-4b75-84c6-6d6c0347beeb/
