Advancement of Tobacco Control in Ghana: Barriers & Opportunities – A Brief Situation Report

Abstract

Adequate tobacco control in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic cannot be overemphasized. As a Lower Middle-Income Country (LMIC) with peculiar needs, Ghana can strengthen her tobacco control regime by advancing country-specific and resilient programmes. The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in partnership with WHO embarked on a national project to sensitize law enforcement officers on the existing tobacco control provisions whilst identifying control barriers peculiar to the various regional groupings. The main outcome of this meeting was the development of a tobacco control enforcement plan which defined the framework for regional participation in tobacco control. The next phase of this project is the sustainability of the regional tobacco control units and the exploration of the inclusion of traditional leadership in tobacco control policy implementation. FDA recognizes that there is an important role of Traditional Authorities, Law enforcement agencies and other state agencies as tobacco control advocates. Keywords: Ghana, Tobacco, enforcement, control

Identifying and costing common gaps in Central and West Africa pharmaceutical regulation

“…Exceptionally, the Rwanda Food and Drug Authority (FDA) in collaboration with the University of Rwanda published assessment results at ML2 and shared the challenges, hindering the implementation of key regulatory functions in their journey toward ML3 ( 50 ). In contrast, Ghana ( 58 ) and Tanzania ( 59 ) shared their knowledge and experience after achieving ML3. In emulating Rwanda FDA and the spirit of contributing to regulatory science, opening access to the GBT for academic and public health researchers would improve knowledge and experience sharing, regardless of the ML ( 10 ).…”