• Pharmaceutical systems: policy and management, access, quality assurance, legislation and regulatory affairs. Development and review of procurement and supply systems, planning and financing, evaluation and monitoring, portfolio analysis, donor-funded procurement regulations and procedures, international tendering, auditing. Medical stores: management and computerization. Design and conduct of formal training seminars, on-job training and capacity building.

• Rob lives in Suriname since 1981. After two long-term assignments (Malawi and Ghana 1995 to 2000) Rob Verhage contributed to strengthening the health sector in Suriname as a member of the Raad voor het Essentieel Geneesmiddelen Programma (Board for the Essential Medicines Programme; up to 2012) and the Geneesmiddelenregistratie Commissie (Medicines Registration Committee; currently as chairperson). As such, he is involved in the development and monitoring of the National Medicines Policy and related programme and co-responsible for the issuance of Market Authorizations for pharmaceuticals, review of legal instruments, organization and administration of quality assurance in Suriname, including computerization of the registered-medicines database.

• He has extensive expertise in global and regional initiatives. In 2011 he became involved in the development of the SADC Strategy for Pooled Procurement of Essential Medicines and Commodities and in 2020 the pooled procurement initiative by the EAC. As a member of the hera team of two experts, he was in 2010 responsible for the evaluation of the programme management in the area of the pharmaceutical policies and essential medicines in 77 ACP countries as well as for the programme components pharmaceutical PSM and QA systems (End of Programme Evaluation EC/ACP/WHO Partnership on Pharmaceutical Policies). In that same year he took part in the development of the Caribbean Pharmaceutical Policy which has been formally adopted by the CARICOM Ministers of Health.

• Rob Verhage was procurement advisor for the Ministry of Health in Zambia (2005-6) and Ghana (1997-99) and for the Central Medical Stores in Malawi (1994-97). From 1981 to 1994 he performed several senior management functions in the Bedrijf Geneesmiddelen Voorziening Suriname (Suriname Medical Stores) of which 9 years as general manager. His activities focused around the design and set-up of the procurement and supply organization and procedures, funding, rationalization of medicines production and quality assurance, computerization and training.

• In short-term assignments, Rob assisted in the development and appraisal of health sector plans in Ethiopia, Ghana, Suriname and Zambia and pharmaceutical sector reviews in East Timor, Guyana, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, Suriname and Zambia. His specific expertise in donor funded procurement (DfID, Danida, EU, Netherlands, GFATM, GTZ, KfW, PAHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, USAID, WHO and World Bank) has been made useful in assistance to international tendering of all health commodities in Ethiopia, Macedonia, Lesotho, Nigeria and Suriname.

• Rob Verhage joined hera in 2007.

• His experience is in Anglophone Africa (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Zambia), Asia (East Timor, Mongolia, Nepal and Sri Lanka), Caribbean (Barbados, Guyana and Suriname, his home country) and Eastern Europe (Azerbaijan, Macedonia and Serbia).

Contact info: Rob.Verhage@hera.eu