The CEO of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has called for stronger partnerships between it and industry players to enhance effective collaboration between stakeholders in the food and medical products research space.

Dr Delese A. A. Darko made this call at the maiden edition of the FDA’s Scientific Forum which was held on Thursday, September 14 in Accra.

Under the theme “Protecting Public Health and Safety Through Partnerships”, the forum brought together the academic community, industry players, sister agencies, research institutions, as well as current and potential collaborators of the FDA to share knowledge for the general advancement of food and medical products’ safety, quality and efficacy in Ghana.

The forum also had as part of its objectives to encourage discussions on partnering for success in local vaccine research, development, and production.

“We are in a fast-paced scientific world and as a key player in the field of science in Ghana, our work requires close collaboration between the organization and higher learning institutions and industry players at the forefront of knowledge in research and development.

"As a regulator, we must regularly engage with such bodies to keep at pace with our field. We put this forum together to provide a platform for active discussions on ensuring the quality and safety of food and medical products through effective collaboration.

"We will need even stronger partnerships for us to fulfil our mandate. Our aim is to strengthen the relationship between us and all the stakeholders whose work impacts food and medical products so we learn from each other in order to improve the work we do for the benefit of the consumer,” Dr Darko said.

The forum featured keynote speeches from the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu and the Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Prof Rita Dickson.

There were also concurrent panel discussions, and poster presentations from researchers to live and online audiences.

Speaking on the importance of the forum to government’s agenda for enhancing research into safe foods and medical products, Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu commended the FDA for organising such a forum to provide the platform for synthesising ideas for the work the FDA does and to support vaccine research in Ghana

“This forum presents a unique opportunity for knowledge sharing and I want to commend the FDA for putting it together.

"Public safety is important for economic growth and it is in these fora that stakeholders are able to bring ideas on board to enhance the safety of food and drugs. Let us seize this opportunity to forge stronger alliances for a safer and healthy Ghana.” the Honourable Minister said.

With support from its partners, GIZ, USAID, Pharmanova, WHO and Atlantic Lifesciences, the FDA put together this first Scientific Forum as part of the Authority’s strategic objective to promote food and medicine safety governance through the promotion of interagency collaboration.

Ideas from this forum are expected to culminate into implementation strategies which enhance the Authority’s mandate as the regulator of food and medicines in Ghana.