Health Official Calls for Local Production of Antiretroviral Drugs in West Africa

Local production of antiretroviral drugs in West Africa will increase access to the medications by ensuring quality and keeping costs low, Deputy Director-General of the West African Health Organization Moussa Maiga said recently at a consultative meeting in Accra, Ghana, VOA News reports. The meeting is one of three organized by WAHO aimed at coordinating public-private partnerships to accelerate local production of generic antiretrovirals in the region. Dab Botwe -- deputy chief executive of Ghana's Food and Drug Board, who is coordinating the meeting -- said the meeting's goal is to generate recommendations for governments, the pharmaceutical industry, regulatory authorities and the Economic Community of West African States "as to how all these organizations can begin a certain approach that at the end of the day will make the product available in the first place, accessible in the second place and affordable." He also emphasized the need for coordinated resources. WAHO is supporting efforts by Benin, Ghana and Nigeria to harmonize antiretroviral production for West Africa, which currently imports the drugs. The meeting gathered policymakers, representatives from drug regulatory organizations and local pharmaceutical companies (Dovi, VOA News, 8/12).

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