Speaker Profile

BIOGRAPHY

Tariro Sithole has over 16 years’ experience in medical products regulation and, since June 2024, is a Technical Officer for Health Products Regulation in the World Health Organisation’s liaison office to the African Union. Tariro is the WHO’s focal person and coordinator in the African Medicines Registration Harmonisation Initiative (AMRH) and provides technical advice in the operationalisation of the African Medicines Agency (AMA). She also contributes to regulatory systems strengthening, conducting GBT assessments and WHO Listed Authority evaluations. Prior to joining WHO, Tariro was a regulatory consultant for 1.5 years, during which time she developed a proposal, roadmap and strategy for the establishment of the College of African Regulatory Science Professionals (CARSP), evaluated the performance of the Regional Centres of Regulatory Excellence (RCOREs) in Africa, developing recommendations for improvement, and led the revision of the WHO ‘Guideline on regulatory preparedness for the oversight of pandemic or other emergency use vaccines in importing countries’. Tariro began her career at the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) and over the course of 13.5 years held various positions, including Chief Regulatory Officer (Human Medicines), Manager in the ZAZIBONA/SADC MRH initiative and Coordinator of the MCAZ’s RCORE for Marketing Authorisation, implementing an EDCTP-funded four-year project titled 'Competence-based fellowships for African reviewers', in which 340 professionals from regulatory authorities and the pharmaceutical industry in Southern Africa were trained. Tariro also served as a consultant CMC assessor for WHO Prequalification (Medicines) for close to 4 years. Tariro is a pharmacist by training and holds a master's in pharmaceutical sciences and a PhD in pharmacy (regulatory affairs) from the University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. She has authored a book, and several papers on medical products regulation published in international journals