Nigeria becomes 34th country to ratify African medicines treaty
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on ThisDay
Nigeria has deposited its instrument of ratification of the treaty establishing the African Medicines Agency, becoming the 34th African Union member state to do so. The announcement was made at the first African Medicines Agency Week in Kigali, Rwanda, by the African Union’s health, humanitarian affairs and social development commission.
Nigeria has ratified the treaty establishing the African Medicines Agency (AMA), becoming the 34th African Union member state to do so, the AU Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, A. Twum-Amoah, announced at the first AMA Week in Kigali, Rwanda.
The director-general of Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Adeyeye, said the ratification should strengthen cooperation between national and regional authorities and harmonise medicines regulation. She listed among the priorities the fight against falsified or substandard medical products, the development of local manufacturing and access to safe, effective and affordable medicines.
Adeyeye called for membership to be translated into concrete action, notably through information-sharing, scientific cooperation and the strengthening of regulatory capacities. The Kigali conference brings together national medicines agencies, representatives of regional economic communities, and representatives of the World Health Organisation and the European Union.
