ASHANTI REGIONAL FDA OFFICE SENSITIZES MEDIA ON UNAPPROVED ADVERTISEMENT

The Ashanti Regional office of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) held a stakeholder meeting with the Marketing, Programmes and Traffic managers of some selected media stations on 6th November 2020 at Noble House Hotel, Kumasi.
The purpose of the engagement was to sensitize the media on the theme "Ensuring Consumer Safety -The Role of the Media in Advertisement of FDA Regulated Products".

The Regional Head, Mrs. Nora Terlabie in delivering her welcome address thanked the participants for honouring the Authority's invitation and briefed them on its mandate.

She added that the engagement was to foster good relationship between the FDA and the media. She further elaborated on the current guidelines for the advertisement of Food, Drugs, Medical Devices, Cosmetics and Household Chemical Substances. She emphasized that, the guidelines were developed in pursuance of Sections 59, 113, 114, 118 and 148 of the Public Health Act 851.

Mrs. Terlabie noted that the media plays a vital role in consumer safety through advertisement and as such the need to ensure that advertisements aired on their platform were vetted and approved by the FDA.

When asked about the need for the tagline 'THIS ADVERTISEMENT HAS BEEN VETTED AND APPROVED BY THE FDA', she said all approved advertisement should always include the phrase as it serves as a guide to the customer or consumer.

She said that Live Presenter Mentions (LPMs) is restricted to advertisement scripts approved by the Authority.
During the engagement, the media teams present commended the Regional Head for the education given and gave their word to partner with the FDA in the fight against unapproved advertisements.

She assured the media that the Authority was not against media houses but rather against the airing of unapproved advertisements.

She said, the FDA has made and continues to make effort to minimize the airing of unapproved advertisement, however this fight cannot be won without the help of media house operators.

She concluded by stating that the FDA is committed to being a global centre of excellence in the regulation of its products and that the protection of the health and safety of the people in Ghana is of utmost priority to the Authority.