From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has appreciated the role played by Global Fund in the effort to strengthen the operations of the Agency and enhance efficiency.
Global Fund is an international financing institution dedicated to combating HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and had provided support to countries in their efforts to address these global health challenges and strengthen health systems.
Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who addressed journalists on the positive impact of Global Fund and other partners on the Agency’s regulatory system strengthening, said that under Global Fund’s Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health (GF-RSSH) grant, NAFDAC was able to implement several budget totalling $2.3m
She said that Global Fund helped the Agency to strengthen its role and capacity in pharmacovigilance and Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) monitoring and reporting; strengthen one of NAFDAC’s ISO 17025 laboratories (CDCL Yaba) to conduct comprehensive analysis of ATM and other disease program medicines; supported NAFDAC for phased implementation of traceability of health products, among several other interventions.
The NAFDAC boss said the Agency has put up measures for sustainability. “We plan to continue building on the progress made through the GF-RSSH grant by enhancing regulatory frameworks to ensure long-term traceability and quality assurance of health products.”
On capacity building, she said that NAFDAC has prioritize continuous training and capacity building for NAFDAC staff and stakeholders in order to improve the quality of health products in Nigeria.
She also confirmed that actions have been taken to improve on public awareness campaigns to educate consumers and healthcare providers about the importance of pharmaceutical traceability and quality assurance.
She added: “NAFDAC will continue to collaborate with all our partners, including the Global Fund, World Health Organization (WHO) Nigeria, USAID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and UNICEF, to advance traceability initiatives and support ongoing efforts.
“We also plan to enhance the capability of the Agulu and Kaduna NAFDAC laboratories that routinely used risk-based approach for ascertaining the quality of medicinal products, asking for more support from Global Fund to strengthen the laboratories toward WHO pre-qualification.”
Director General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Dr. Gambo Aliyu, appreciated the commitment of the Global Fund, financially and otherwise, and NAFDAC to the cause of the fight against HIV/AIDS.
He said that NACA has been Nigeria’s main organization for the control of HIV and AIDS. “NACA is responsible for coordinating the country’s response to HIV and AIDS and provides strategic guidance for the national response,” he said.
“We mobilize resources and grants, and channeled same to the cause of the fight against HIV/AIDS. We have surrendered our human capital resources and other systems to the cause of the fight. We are responding remarkably well to HIV and we are also working against any form of HIV epidemic.