A NEW APPROACH TO POST-MARKET SURVEILLANCE

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in collaboration with the United States Pharmacopeial convention held a 3-day inaugural meetings of the Working Group on Promoting the Quality of Medicines (PQM+) program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) between the 14th and 16th of April 2021 at the African Regent Hotel in Accra.

This program was attended by representatives from the FDA, National Malaria Control Program, National AIDS/HIV Control Program, National Tuberculosis Control Program, Expanded Programme on Immunization, Pharmacy Council, National Health Insurance Authority, Ghana Health Service, and the PQM+ West Africa Team.

The Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Delese Darko (seated far right) with members at the meeting.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Authority, Mrs. Delese A. A. Darko in her speech stated that, the PQM+ will sustainably strengthen medical product quality assurance in the country. According to her, working with medicines regulatory authorities like the FDA and other stakeholders in this program will increase the supply of quality essential medical products through capacity building of local manufacturers towards WHO pre-qualifications and Ghana Standards Authority criteria.

She further detailed that, the PQM+ plans will help improve the capacity of FDA to conduct post market surveillance by introducing a new risk-based approach which requires the participation of diverse groups that play a critical role in the quality assurance of medicines in the country.

The Deputy Chief Executive (DCE), Technical Operations Division, Mrs. Akua Amartey added that the adoption of this new approach to Post-Market Surveillance is key to ensuring quality medical products on the market. She pledged the support of the FDA and lauded the efforts by the stakeholders to implement strategies of this new approach.

Mrs. Delese Darko encouraged members of the working group to seize the opportunity to build their capacity in the management of the quality of health products marketed in Ghana and contribute their quota to fight against substandard and falsified medicines.

The program seeks to support and assess the level of progress of three selected local manufacturers of Artemether/Lumefantrine and improve on the quality of oxytocin and iron + folic acid supplement on the Ghanaian market.