Local production of drugs top priority of govt — Prez Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says one of his topmost priorities is to build the capacity of local pharmaceutical companies to enable them to produce more drugs locally.

He said local production was “a matter we have to pay maximum attention to. There is absolutely no reason why we cannot develop the capacity.”

Receiving the Director-General of the West African Health Organisation (WAHO), Dr Xavier Crespin, at the Flagstaff House in Accra yesterday, President Akufo-Addo urged WAHO to place greater emphasis on the processes for the control of malaria, since it continued to be a debilitating disease in West Africa and on the continent.

President Akufo-Addo said in many parts of the world where malaria had been completely eradicated, even before the development of effective medication, one of the key strategies adopted was effective vector control.

He, therefore, urged WAHO to seek Cuban support for the construction of biolarvicide factories in West Africa to help eradicate malaria.

Political support

In his remarks, Dr Crespin appealed for the support of the President towards the local production of pharmaceuticals in the West African region.

He explained that the help of Ghana “in reinforcing local capacity to produce our own medicine” was of the utmost importance, adding that “from our assessment, we produce only 25 per cent of the medicines we need in our region, which is very weak. Our objective is to increase it to 50 per cent.”

He, therefore, urged President Akufo-Addo to take the lead advocacy in the area. ‘’We need political support from you to help us in terms of taxation, regulation and harmonisation at the ECOWAS level,” he said.

Major contributor

Dr Crespin said Ghana was a major contributor to the ECOWAS Fund, and, as such, it was important to seek its advice on the implementation of key policy initiatives of the regional health body.

He praised Ghana for its universal health coverage — the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) — which was being replicated in some West African countries.

The area of traditional medicine, he added, was also one area in which Ghana was doing very well, in comparison with other countries.

Disease control centre

On the plans put in place by WAHO to deal with pandemics, such as Ebola, Dr Crespin revealed that a Regional Centre for Disease Control (RCDC) had been established in Abuja, Nigeria, to ensure that “we are more prepared, in terms of early detection, epidemic surveillance, training of our staff and upgrading of their capacity, and research, so we can combat diseases of the nature of Ebola.”

Ghana, Dr Crespin added, was serving as the platform for training of staff. The University of Ghana has been chosen for the training of staff in the Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme (FELTP).

The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), he said, was also training most of the medical staff who were part of the regional intervention team.