In the effort to improve access to appropriate, quality medicines to maximize availability within MOH’s budgetary constraints, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting establishment and growth of the Central Procurement Agency through the Safe, Affordable, and Effective Medicines for Ukrainians (SAFEMed) project. Since 2017 SAFEMed applies health system-strengthening best practices to create evidence-based interventions and strengthen Ukraine’s pharmaceutical system in line with the MOH health reform objectives.
SAFEMed’s activities are implemented via technical, financial, and legal assistance in the following work streams—priority settings, procurement, reimbursement, supply chain—as well as quality assurance with focus on bioequivalence coupled with communication as cross-cutting areas. When combined, work streams and activities collectively strengthen the system from all angles—from medicines selection to forecasting to actual procurement to assuring quality.

More specifically, SAFEMed provides technical and financial assistance to the CPA in the development of its procurement strategy, organizational structure, infrastructure, and scope.

USAID’s SAFEMed ongoing support includes:

• Development and advancing innovative public procurement instruments and operations regionally and centrally based on the recognized international best practices.
• Providing learning opportunities to enhance the skills of CPA experts, including information about the dynamics of the pharmaceutical market.
• Providing continuous legal support in the establishment of the favorable normative environment to optimize public procurement of medicines – transparent, corruption-free and cost-effective.
• Supporting development of key internal CPA policies and business processes in collaboration with CPA leadership.
• Providing targeted communication support to CPA alongside regional and central outreach efforts.
• Recruitment and support of the qualified experts.