NAFDAC, partners collaborate to get WHO-certified lab

Nigeria would soon get its first laboratory certified by the World Health Organisation by December 2015, following collaboration between regulating agency NAFDAC and its partners.

Getting the lab, run by National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, in Yaba, Lagos has been described as challenging and ambitious but WHO has noted it will support NAFDAC reach the goal.

An existing contract between WHO and the UK’s Department for International Development is to “support the process we have been pursuing over the years, that is, to certify the Yaba laboratory,” said Mike Egboh, coordinator for Partnership for Transforming Health Systems Phase 2 (PATHS2) a DFID project and partner on the lab.

In talks with partners NAFDAC and DFID in Abuja, Egboh said, “One thing is for a country like Nigeria not to have a certified laboratory. For me, it is a shame. As a Nigerian, I don’t feel good about it, and that is why those of us who are working on it are very passionate about it.”

DFID has called for quick orientation of laboratory staff at Yaba to kick off the process, saying, “normally the process takes a minimum of three years, as we have been told, but WHO is committing itself to bringing all the resources, and bringing everyone to ensure that it is done by December 2015. This will stress all of us, and ensuring that we work much faster, sharper and lot more focused”.

NAFDAC has welcomed the collaboration, insisting it needs to secure WHO accreditation for its labs to match pharmaceutical firms gradually get prequalification status with WHO.