By Benjamin Nii Nai Anyetei
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has unveiled a new digital platform to modernise public health regulation in Ghana and strengthen its leadership across Africa.
The platform, known as the Ghana Electronic Integrated Regulatory System (GhEIRS), was launched during the FDA’s 2024 Annual Stakeholder Meeting in Accra. It is designed to streamline applications, accelerate regulatory approvals, and enhance transparency.
Speaking at the launch, the Chief Executive Officer of the FDA, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Manso Opuni, explained that GhEIRS responds to long-standing concerns about bottlenecks in regulatory processes.
“With this system, applicants can complete submissions remotely and track approvals in real time. It was important to end the delays and inefficiencies that stakeholders have complained about for years,” Prof Opuni said.
The stakeholder meeting also highlighted Ghana’s growing global recognition in regulation. The FDA has trained African regulators under the U.S. Pharmacopeia’s Promoting the Quality of Medicines (PQM) programme, received support from partners such as the European Union, Germany’s BMZ, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and has been named the Overall Best Specified Entity of the Year for three consecutive years.
Presenting updates, the Head of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the FDA, Afua Amoako-Mensah, said the Authority is intensifying efforts to ensure compliance with food hygiene standards under its Street Food Vending Permit Scheme.
“In the year under review, we trained 3,510 food vendors and issued 1,094 permits. However, many vendors failed to complete the process by securing health certificates despite follow-up reminders,” she explained.
She added that the FDA is also collaborating with border security agencies to clamp down on non-compliant products entering the country.
The FDA’s 2024 Annual Stakeholder Meeting concluded with a commitment to implementing 24-hour service delivery to advance digitalisation in safeguarding public health and safety, ensuring that Ghana’s FDA remains a benchmark for Africa.
