The FDA staff with officials after the closing ceremony
Forty-one staff of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) have completed Hands-on Assessors training to enhance the FDA’s capacity to regulate and ensure that safe and quality vaccines are produced in the country.
The training, under the Institutional and Technical Strengthening of the FDA Ghana Project funded by the European Union and the German Development Cooperation, was to ensure that the FDA has the capacity in terms of facilities and personnel to ensure quality, safety, and efficacy of locally manufactured vaccines that meet World Health Organisation (WHO) and international standards.
The beneficiaries were trained under three modules, namely: 15-Days Quality Assessors Training; 15-Days Clinical Assessors Training; and 10-Days Non-Clinical Assessors Training.
Team Lead of the GIZ Support to Vaccine Manufacturing Component, Dr. Holger Till, said the dossier evaluation training is one of many training activities co-funded by EU and German government to enhance FDA-Ghana’s capacity for vaccine regulation.
“Together, we have made significant progress since the start of the project and very soon FDA Ghana will have the full capacity and WHO standards for vaccine manufacturing regulation,” he said.
He indicated that apart from the FDA, other institutions have benefited from capacity enhancement including the Centre for Plant Medicine Research which has two of its staff participating in training on good laboratory practices in animal testing at the Humboldt University and Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI) in Germany.
FDA CEO, Dr. Mrs. Delese Darko said the COVID-19 pandemic revealed gaps in health systems globally and highlighted the importance of vaccines.
She further stated that to strengthen the country’s health care system, the government decided to make the country a vaccine manufacturing centre and the 3.1-million-Euro project was developed to support this plan.
“By November 2023, the FDA will take another pivotal step by initiating feasibility studies to construct an ISO Class 5 with 6 Background Cleanroom. These developments underscore our dedication to building the infrastructure to regulate locally manufactured vaccines,” she said.
Team Leader, Macroeconomic and Trade Sector, EU Delegation to Ghana, Timothy Dolan, said the EU’s support to the FDA has reiterated its Member States’ commitment to the country’s vaccine roadmap.
“Ghana vaccine manufacturing ambitions are in the spotlight and the urgency to meet the short-term targets of the roadmap is critical.
I have no doubt that developing high quality manufacturing capability will require sustained commitment and partnerships, as well as strong pharmaceutical, regulatory and governance systems and this points out clearly the need to support the regulator, namely the FDA”, he said.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri