Swiss govt and Gates Foundation ink MoU

Switzerland and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have entered into a partnership to accelerate and increase access to quality essential medicines for populations in low-income countries.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was entered between Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Switzerland's Federal Department of Home Affairs and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, in a meeting at Bern on Wednesday.
"The overall goal of this partnership is to accelerate and increase access to quality essential medicines of the populations living in low-income countries," a statement by the Swiss government said.
"This should be achieved by coordinating and leveraging resources in a cooperation for the purpose of strengthening regulatory systems in these countries in order to bring quality life-saving medicines to patients as quickly as possible," it added.

The initial focus would be on supporting regulators in sub-Saharan countries.
A working group has been established, which will develop concrete project proposals for review later this year.