Date: 2017-06-18 14:44:00 ID: 1652
Abuja, Nigeria, June 16, 2017 ' The West African Health Organization (WAHO) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) have organized the official launch of the ECOWAS Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Roadmap Initiative. This was at the sideline of the 18th Ordinary Meeting of the Assembly of Health Ministers of ECOWAS.
In launching the initiative, the Director General of WAHO, Dr Xavier Crespin who was assisted the Health Minister of Togo and current Chairman of the Assembly of Health Ministers, Professor Mustafa Mijiyawa, and the Honorable Minister of Health of Nigeria, Professor Isaac Folorunso Adewole, asked ECOWAS member states to support the initiative.
Under the mandate of Heads of State and Government of the 15 ECOWAS Member States, ECOWAS Commission and WAHO were authorized to find solutions to address the health burden of the region and thus a means to improve access to essential medicines. This initiated the establishment of the ECOWAS Regional Pharmaceutical Plan (ERPP) 2014-2020.
The vision of this Regional Plan is to ensure that all pharmaceutical manufacturing in ECOWAS meets international Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) to improve sustainable and affordable access to safe and effective essential medicines and contribute to economic growth.
From that, the ECOWAS Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Roadmap Initiative ' An Effective Strategy to Strengthen the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Industry in the West Africa Region, was initiated in collaboration with UNIDO.
UNIDO was represented by Mr.Juergen Reinhardt, the Project Manager of the ECOWAS Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Roadmap Initiative, a joint ECOWAS/WAHO/UNIDO intervention. The objectives of the ECOWAS pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices roadmap initiative are to:
1. support the West African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association to achieve international standards;
2. develop structures for the establishment of national level Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) roadmap initiatives;
3. develop a regional framework of reference for the pursuit of associated approaches at country level;
4. address the unequal distribution of the manufacturing facilities in ECOWAS which implies that different policy measures are required from country to country;
5. serve as standards for monitoring; the road map then becomes a stringent strategic tool by which the national regulators would apply to ensure that the industries meet stipulated standards;
6. make available improved quality medicines from local manufacturers in close proximity to reduce the incidence of Substandard, Spurious, Falsely labelled, Falsified and Counterfeit (SSFFC) medical products in the region;
7. strengthen regulatory capacity in all countries for inspection of manufacturing facilities;
8. guide the set-up of new facilities that are GMP compliant in countries that wish to establish or expand their pharmaceutical manufacturing sector;
9. Promote intra-regional trade and improve the supply chain management for a competitive and efficient regional pharmaceutical manufacturing to ensure the supply of essential medicines produced in the region expands from 30% to 60% by the year 2020.