Mrs. Darko (right) receiving the award from Dr. Swaminathan.
Chief Executive Officer of Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Delese Mimi Darko, has been awarded the United Nations (UN) Interagency Task Force (UNIATF) award for her outstanding leadership and contribution to the prevention and control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD).
The award was presented to Mrs Darko at the third high-level meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) during the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday, 27th September 2018.
It was presented to her by the Deputy Director-General for Programmes, World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Soumya Swaminathan.
The award is said to be the first ever to be given out by the UNIATF and it was initiated earlier in the year to recognise governments, institutions or individuals making outstanding contributions to NCD-prevention and control.
In 2018, nominations were invited for individuals and organisations in Ministries of Health, Ministries Outside Health and United Nations Country Team, for the first ever awards.
Mrs Darko won the award for an Outstanding Individual in Ministries Outside Health. Her name was among an impressive list of winners including a President, Ministers, a First Lady and senior government officials across the world. Her feat has put Ghana firmly at the forefront of the continent for the significant progress she and her team at FDA have made in controlling NCDs over the years.
Non-Communicable Diseases are usually diseases which are not transmitted but last for long periods of time and progress slowly.
NCDs include mental disorders, alcohol and drug addictions as well as cancers and heart diseases; to name a few.
These diseases are the leading cause of death globally. In the light of the alarming statistics associated with NCDs, the UN Secretary General established the task force in 2013 under the leadership of WHO to coordinate activities of relevant UN organisations and other inter-governmental organisations in supporting the realisation of the commitments made by the Heads of State and governments back in 2011 to respond to NCD epidemics worldwide over the period 2013 – 2020.
Mrs. Darko is a world-renowned and globally recognized regulator with expertise in safety monitoring and consumer protection.
She is a pharmacist by profession with over 27 years experience in the regulation of medicines with respect to clinical trials, marketing authorisation and post-approval safety monitoring. Her opinion is sought across the world by affiliate institutions of the World Health Organisation as well as the African Union and the West African Health Organisation.
Her hard work and effort with the support of a dedicated team has positioned Ghana’s FDA at the forefront of medical products regulation and patient protection. This has resulted in regulators from several African countries visiting Ghana to understudy the regulation of herbal medicine, clinical trials and pharmacovigilance and recently, the food regulation system.
In addition to being CEO of FDA, Mrs Darko is a founding member of the African Vaccines Regulatory Forum (AVAREF) and currently serves as the Chairperson of the Steering Committee of AVAREF.
The sterling work of the team at Ghana’s FDA has attracted the interest and support from key global players like the UK Department for International Development, WHO, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, GAVI, WAHO and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).
Mrs Mimi Darko’s award also reflects the hard work and contributions of several Ghanaians in the control of NCDs and should spur more Ghanaians on to join the noble and important task of rolling back these diseases
BY Melvin Tarlue