Avanza en El Salvador el establecimiento de un hub subregional de control de calidad de equipos de protección personal para Centroamérica y el Caribe – OPS/OMS

San Salvador, October 25, 2023 (PAHO) – With technical support from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and funds donated by the United States Government, El Salvador recently inaugurated a hub or evaluation center for protective equipment personnel (PPE). The hub will soon be able to receive and begin to control the quality of particulate respirators, masks, gloves and gowns, among other devices, that are produced and want to be marketed in Central America and the Caribbean.

The new center is part of a PAHO project aimed at strengthening the capacity of Latin America and the Caribbean to produce essential health technologies after the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as reducing external dependence on these products, which largely most are produced outside the region. Having regulatory capabilities in the region to ensure the quality, safety and performance of these products constitutes a step forward in this process.

“The shortage of gloves, masks and other personal protection elements that we suffered at the beginning of the pandemic cannot be repeated,” said PAHO Director Jarbas Barbosa. “PAHO quickly recognized the enormous external dependence of the region on these products and decided to undertake this project in order to strengthen our regulatory systems from a regional perspective, of which El Salvador and Colombia have been strategic partners,” he added.

The Quality Control Laboratory (LCC) of the National Directorate of Medicines (DNM) of El Salvador houses the subregional hub for Central America and the Caribbean. The laboratory received 26 pieces of equipment for more than $725,000 to develop this function. Likewise, the National Institute for Food and Drug Surveillance (Invima) of Colombia will act as a subregional hub for South America, and will advance this process in parallel.

Both institutions were selected by PAHO due to their experience, infrastructure, human resources and capacity to incorporate new trials, receive donated equipment and perform the necessary quality analyses.

“PAHO’s cooperation will allow us to strengthen the Salvadoran health system, and with it, its regulatory capacity,” said Dr. Barbosa. “Ensuring the quality of protective clothing, medical masks and gloves is key to protecting health workers and patients, and leaving the region better prepared for a possible future pandemic,” he stressed.

In mid-October, representatives of 19 national regulatory authorities participated in the XI Regional Meeting on the Regulation of Medical Devices, held in El Salvador, during which they also visited the DNM laboratory facilities to learn about the new equipment for quality control. . of the EPP. After the visit, the first meeting of the subregional hub for Central America and the Caribbean was held, with the participation of representatives from Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago.

During the meeting it was mentioned that requests for the services of the subregional hub will be made through an electronic system and that the corresponding Salvadoran import and management regulations will apply to the samples sent.

In the future, the laboratories of El Salvador and Colombia could also provide services to the performance evaluation program that the PAHO Regional Revolving Funds establish for the verification of the quality of this type of health technologies. The Regional Revolving Funds make joint purchases of vaccines, essential medicines and strategic public health supplies for the countries of the Americas.