Ghana launches global standards for Pharmaceutical Traceability Strategy document
The maiden edition of the Ghana Pharmaceutical Traceability Strategy (PTS), a global standard document to track and trace the originality and sources of all medicines and consumables, has been launched in Accra.
The PTS document, which spans between the periods 2023 and 2028, was developed through a multi-stakeholder consultative process and establishes a clear vision, strategy and roadmap for implementing pharmaceutical traceability in Ghana by leveraging global standards.
Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, the Minster of Health, who launched the Strategy, said through the adoption of global standards, Ghana sought to increase visibility within the supply chain and the ability to track and trace all medicines from points of entry to the market and to the patient.
He spoke about the Ministry’s mandate on achieving Universal Health Coverage and quality healthcare delivery to improve the health status of all persons, which required ensuring uninterrupted supply of safe, quality and efficacious health care commodities.
The Minister said by effectively implementing the PTS, Ghana would benefit greatly from a global coding system for product identification, which would facilitate improvement in health outcomes.
He said the PTS was anchored on the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) National Health Policy (2020), and also aligned with the Third Edition of the National Medicines Policy of (2017), to ensure the availability and appropriate use of quality medicines and medical products.
Hence, the Strategy would address the issues of substandard and falsified pharmaceutical products detected in the legitimate supply chain, improve efficiency of inventory management and distribution through strengthened health system data quality, he said.
Mr Agyeman-Manu commended the multi-stakeholder technical working group, and the Pharmaceutical Traceability Secretariat established under the Pharmacy Directorate of the Ministry, for their commitment towards the development of the Strategy.
He called on all stakeholders, including consumers and development partners to join efforts in ensuring the full implementation of the PTS to achieve the desired impact.
Mr Festus Korang, the Coordinator of the PTS Secretariat at the MoH, gave some highlights on the journey so far in the development of the Strategy, the key performance indicators and the total cost of implementing the PTS, which he said was approximately GHS 24 million.
Mrs Adah Allotey-Pappoe, representing the Food and Drugs Authority, assured Ghanaians that the PTS would help simplify recall systems, enhance data collection and pharmacovigilance and ensure patient safety.
She said with the system, manufacturers, importers and consumers would be protected from product losses and health hazards arising out of fake pharmaceutical products.
Source: GNA