The 19th Scientific Congress of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists (WAPCP) took place in Banjul, Gambia from the 10th to 16th March 2007. The congress was under the theme “Sustainable Access to Medicines for Diseases of Public Health Concern in the West African Sub-region”. Pharmacists from the five West African counties forming the College (namely Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal) attended the congress. There were pharmacists from Liberia, and two Francophone countries who attended the congress as observers.
Mr. Joseph Nyoagbe,Registrar of the Pharmacy Council, Mr. Daniel Amaning Danquah and Mr. Samuel Antwi Kwakwa all Senior Inspecting Pharmacists of the Council were among the Ghanaian delegation.
Two scientific presentations were made by delegates from Ghana. The first was on the topic “National Health Insurance Scheme as a Mechanism for Sustainable Financing of Priority Medicine”. The speaker was Mr. Kwasi Eghan from Accra, Ghana.
Mr. Joseph Nyoagbe, FPCPharm, Registrar, Pharmacy Council, Ghana made the 2nd presentation on the topic “Roles of National Government and Development Partners in Accessing Medicines”
He first looked at the background information in terms of the state of affairs and access problems. He went on to explain the concepts of accessibility and took a look on the Global Pharmaceutical Situations. Finally he suggested the way forward for National Governments and Development Partners.
