Written by TECHNICAL BENCH MARKING GUIDE ON COVID-19-RELATED PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT – Technical Regulations and Standards for PPE in select markets
Covid 10 pandemic has disrupted the global supply chain for PPEs (intended for medical use). Pandemic led confusion has created chaos and supplies became border less to tide over the crisis period requirements. Emergency Use Authorizations were the order of the day in many countries to ensure seamless supply of Medical PPEs across the globe.
This was also the time when markets have realised that there was not much clarity on Technical Standards, Regulations in use across the globe. This void due to lack of knowledge, single guideline document has led to more confusion and chaos to the supply chain. Covid 19 is still not over and markets continue to experience waves after waves with rise of new variants and masking up remains a constant requirement.
In support of the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Global Health Platform, IFC launched a Global Advisory Program on PPE in 2020, with funding and support from the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The program’s main objective is to support the diversification of global supply chains for PPE and to work with manufacturers and governments in developing countries to increase the manufacturing and supply of quality PPE in those countries. One critical knowledge gap was a guide that compares technical regulations and standards for PPE across countries.
This technical bench marking guide forms a key part of IFC’s Global Advisory Program and provides manufacturers and purchasers with a tool to navigate through the technical regulations, product specifications and conformity assessment requirements associated with selected markets around the world.
The guide focuses on medical PPE, excluding protective equipment and professional workwear to protect workers in other industries, outside health care.
Overall, the guide seeks to simplify comparisons between the various COVID-19-related PPE categories and markets by using a system of color coding to highlight similarities and differences.
For those who need more detail, it also takes a deeper dive into the technical regulations, product standards, and testing criteria for each PPE/market combination.
Document can be downloaded from the following link :