MeTA Ghana: medicines data collection and disclosure as it is happening

Posted on 6 November 2009

Daniel Kojo Arhinful, Senior Technical Advisor, MeTA Ghana

A few weeks ago, I made a phone call to a State institution to request some current facts and figures on a topic of public interest. The information requested was to allow me to update some records for a presentation I was preparing for a scientific conference in Ghana. The person I contacted was a known colleague who committed to get me the information the following day. The next morning, however, I received an email informing me that I “...need to write to the office to request the data” and politely being “sorry for the inconvenience.”

I need not recount my disappointment at my inability to obtain easily what I considered information already in the public domain. But the case above typifies the challenge of disclosure and the barriers to getting and using “good data” in Ghana.

The Government of Ghana is committed to improving access to quality health care for all the country’s citizens.  To achieve this goal, the Ministry of Health (MoH) relies on several agencies and departments in the medicines supply chain, from regulation through procurement and supply. In the public sector these include the Central Medical Stores (CMS), Regional Medical Stores (RMS) and the Ghana National Drug Programme (GNDP). There are also several private sector entities such as the Catholic Drug Centre, wholesalers and retailers. The market is regulated by the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), which undertakes quality assurance as part of the drug registration process.

Most entities involved in Ghana’s medicines supply chain – particularly the FDB, CMS and MoH Procurement Unit – collect basic data for the purposes of reporting and performance appraisal and also to feed into policy formulation and operations. But there is a multi-million dollar question: Are these basic datasets properly maintained, collated or analysed? And to what extent do the relevant parties share and disclose the data they collect and hold?

My recent experience shows it is no straightforward process. It is partly in response to such challenges that stakeholders in Ghana have embraced the opportunity presented by the Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) to foster disclosure of medicines data in areas such as quality and registration, availability, pricing and ethical promotion.

What data are we collecting?

MeTA Ghana is currently engaged in:

• Assessing the quality of Mebandazole and Glibenclamide on the Ghanaian market in collaboration with the FDB. The World Bank is supporting similar work on antibiotics, as is the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for anti-malarials. The main objective is to obtain reliable, scientific data to verify the extent to which counterfeit and substandard products circulate on the Ghanaian market.
  
  
• Primary and secondary collection and analysis of National Health Insurance data from district health insurance schemes, to understand and scrutinise rational use of medicines in health facilities and provide decision support on sustainability.
  
  
• A data disclosure survey to describe the current disclosure status of information on medicine registration and quality assurance, availability, pricing, and policies and practices concerning the promotion of medicines.
  
  
• A pharmaceutical sector scan focusing on contextual information about the medicines supply chain, access, price, affordability and rational use of medicines.
  
  
• Other future data collection activities are planned.  

What is happening in order to achieve our goal?

It has not been easy to forge new coalitions and a commitment to transparency in data sharing, but progress has been encouraging. MeTA Ghana engages in a multi-stakeholder approach in order to deliver its outputs. Stakeholders are engaged from the onset to plan and discuss the best options and necessary details of activities. Then one stakeholder might take the lead. For example, the FDB is carrying out the quality sentinel surveys on behalf of MeTA Ghana. Health insurance data extraction activities have been planned and implemented in concert with NHIA staff. All preparatory documents are shared with Governing Council members for their inputs.

What data are MeTA Ghana hoping to disclose in the future?

• All the data we collect are being disclosed (or will be disclosed) through a variety of routes, including:
• Regular quarterly meetings of the Governing Council;
• The sharing of data and other resources through a dedicated MeTA Ghana website;
• National multi-stakeholder forums held annually;
• Reports to the MeTA International Advisory Group and the International Secretariat in order to share and compare results with other countries;
• Work undertaken by the MeTA Ghana civil society group to translate and communicate key information to communities, and
• Media engagement, training and briefings.

It is envisaged that these activities will both inform and promote developments in medicines policy and regulation in support of Millennium Development Goal 8, and also help increase the transparency and efficiency of the medicines supply chain in Ghana in the ultimate interest of the consumer.

Acknowledgements:
Sincere gratitude to Emma Back, Independent Consultant, MeTA Ghana for reading and editing the draft.