The Senegalese Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (ARP) officially inaugurated its regional office for the North region in Saint-Louis on Monday, December 22, 2025. This new structure strengthens the agency's presence in the Saint-Louis, Matam, and Louga regions, which it will now be responsible for covering.

The inauguration ceremony was presided over by the Deputy Governor of the Saint-Louis region, Sidy Guissé Diongue, representing the Minister of Health and Public Hygiene. On this occasion, he hailed a major step forward for the Senegalese healthcare system and for the pharmaceutical sector in particular.

“This day marks an important step in strengthening our healthcare system,” he declared, emphasizing that the establishment of this branch reflects the health authorities’ commitment to being closer to the population. According to him, this initiative is fully aligned with the Ministry of Health’s priorities and the President’s commitment to implementing public policies at the local level.

The deputy governor explained that the regional office in the North will have the primary mission of ensuring the implementation of national policies relating to medicines and other health products in the three regions concerned. It will notably ensure compliance with pharmaceutical regulations, the adaptation of interventions to local realities, the anticipation of needs, and the support of professionals in the sector.

Emphasizing the strategic importance of the Northern region in the institutional framework of the State, Sidy Guissé Diongue invited all local stakeholders to support the action of the ARP in order to guarantee the effectiveness and success of its interventions on the ground.

Speaking in turn, the Director General of the ARP, Dr. Alioune Ibnou Abatalib Diouf, highlighted the specific characteristics and challenges of the Northern region in the implementation of the agency's missions. He reiterated that the ARP intends to cover all of the country's development hubs through regional offices.

"Our goal is to support the authorities in improving the health of the population by ensuring access to quality, safe, available and affordable medicines, while fighting against products that are not medicines or that imitate their appearance," he explained.

The Director General also reviewed the nine regulatory functions performed by the ARP, including regulation, inspection, market surveillance, and pharmacovigilance. According to him, inspection allows for the identification and penalization of practices that violate applicable laws and regulations, while market surveillance aims to identify and remove prohibited or unauthorized products.

“Pharmacovigilance, for its part, plays an essential role in monitoring adverse effects related to the use of medicines, but also in detecting harmful consequences caused by poor quality products,” concluded Dr. Alioune Ibnou Abatalib Diouf.

With the opening of this regional branch in Saint-Louis, the ARP is taking a new step in strengthening pharmaceutical regulation and protecting the health of the populations of northern Senegal.