The Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority’s quality control laboratory has been chosen as a potential candidate to serve as the regional reference laboratory for health products quality control and testing for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) member states and some Southern African countries.
The move aims to strengthen regional health security systems and improve access to quality-assured, safe and effective health products and technologies to the population in the Eastern and Southern Africa region.
The proposed regional reference laboratory will provide specialized testing services, strengthen laboratory quality systems, coordinate proficiency testing and interlaboratory comparisons, promote regulatory reliance, and facilitate knowledge sharing and workforce development, and support harmonization of laboratory practices across the region.
Industry experts and officials drawn from the two regions on Monday started reviewing the proposed laboratory, assessing the laboratory’s institutional, technical and operational readiness against the proposed terms of reference, identifying strengths and gaps and defining priority actions to develop an implementation roadmap.
Speaking on behalf of executive secretary of IGAD Workneh Gebeyehu, Moussa Meigague, Director of health and social development at IGAD, labeled the assessment as a practical step towards building a more connected regional quality-assurance system—one that protects people, strengthens confidence in health products, and helps the countries in two regions respond more effectively to routine and health emergency needs.
“Across the region, laboratory capacity and specialized testing services are not readily available. Fragmented systems, limited opportunities for inter-laboratory collaboration and insufficient technical mentorship can delay investigations and make it harder for regulators to act quickly on credible evidence,” Meigague said.
He said with clearly defined sample referral arrangements and trusted laboratory results, participating countries can draw on shared expertise rather than having to build every specialised capability independently.” This can improve efficiency, comparability of results and confidence in regulatory decisions,” he added.
Heran Gerba, Director General of the Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority, said the country’s quality control laboratory has attained maturity level 3 last year while noting that the construction of a building which will serve as a regional centre of excellence is well on progress.
The industry experts are expected to assess the laboratory’s readiness to implement the mandate and functions outlined in the regional reference laboratory terms of reference and evaluate laboratory infrastructure, equipment, analytical capacity and specialized testing capabilities.
MG/as/APA