A post-marketing surveillance conducted between March and September 2023 shows that a high percentage of antimalarials on the Ghanaian market met the quality assurance test.
This was revealed at a workshop organized by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), the National Post Marketing Surveillance Technical Working Group, and the Promoting the Quality of Medicines Plus (PQM+) Program, with funding from USAID.
According to the organisers of the workshop, the survey was conducted with the aim of improving the country’s regulatory systems to ensure the quality of medical products in the public and private sectors.
At the workshop for the dissemination of the results of the second risk-based post-marketing surveillance of antimalarial and MCH medicines in Ghana, the USAID Health Population and Nutrition Office Director, Zohra Balsara, said key findings from the study revealed a low failure rate of antimalarials (only 4.6%), implying that the quality of antimalarials is high.
She, however, added that the failure rate of oxytocin which is used as the first line of treatment to prevent excessive bleeding by women during childbirth is a cause for concern.
Ms Balsara further noted that excessive bleeding during childbirth is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in Ghana, the study shows that more effort is needed to ensure every woman and baby receives good quality healthcare in Ghana.
The Director of USP Ghana and PQM+ West Africa, Kwasi Poku Boateng, noted that access to quality medicines is part of the Universal Health Coverage agenda as enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals, therefore, the USAID is funding the global programme aimed at improving access to quality-assured medicines in low- and middle-income countries, of which Ghana is a part.
Mr. Boateng stated that with the five broad objectives of the programme, three are being worked on in Ghana. These include strengthening the regulatory systems to assure quality of medicines, optimizing, and increasing financial resources for medical product quality assurance, and increasing access to quality-assured medicines.
These three objectives, he explained, included providing technical assistance to Pharmaceutical manufacturers in Ghana to be able to produce quality-assured medicines and supporting the FDA in strengthening the regulatory system to provide adequate oversight for the medicines on our market.
He further noted that in Ghana malaria and maternal and child health issues remain a major health challenge hence the PQM+ program’s support to strengthen market surveillance and control of medicines used to manage them.
Commenting on the FDA’s mandate of ensuring the quality, safety, and efficacy of medicines on the market, its Chief Regulatory Officer, Jennifer Bonnah, said the project findings bring into perspective, quality issues relating to major categories of medicines on the market that are very critical and essential for maternal and child health.
She further noted: “For us, the highlight is that we are able to determine the presence of substandard and falsified medicines, and that plays a very critical role for maternal and child health.
“This will enable us to be able to help mothers and babies to live healthy lives to the full,” Ms Bonnah said.
The dissemination event, with funding from USAID, was spearheaded by the FDA Ghana, the National Technical Working Group, and with technical support from the PQM+ program.
The PQM+ program shares scientific expertise and provides technical support and leadership that helps create resilient and robust local health systems that address diseases including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases, as well as improve maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes.