On Saturday, January 29, the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board approved the renewal of official relations with the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) through 2023. As an independent, scientific nonprofit organization focused on building trust in the supply of safe, quality medicines, USP is honored to continue our longstanding partnership with the WHO and contribute our expertise to shape and advance policies and strategies to improve the health and wellbeing of people around the world.

The overarching goal of our partnership with the WHO is simple: strengthen the global supply chain to ensure that the medicines which people rely on for health, are available when needed. To make this a reality, we are working with the WHO to:

• Help government regulators and public health authorities improve access to, and use of, safe and effective quality medicines by using public standards and best practices at points all along the supply chain;
• Strengthen regional and in-country pharmaceutical regulatory capacity by supporting and training national labs and regulatory agencies;
• Enhance global pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity by helping in-country manufacturers achieve WHO prequalification;
• Reduce the global burden of poor-quality medicines by monitoring and sharing available data on medicine quality around the world.

Global collaboration has been part of USP’s DNA throughout our 200+ year history. With a mission to improve global health through public standards, we are guided by broad and diverse perspectives from the thousands of expert volunteers who help develop USP standards to the nearly 500 Convention Member Organizations that help identify USP’s areas of focus. From Rockville to Geneva to Hyderabad and Shanghai, we’re committed to working with global stakeholders to build trust in medicines and protect patients.

To learn more about USP’s work on international health policy and advocacy, visit us here.