In what can be described as one of the most significant collaborations in the health sector aimed towards the attainment of the lofty goal of enhancing the research and safety of natural medicine in Nigeria, the Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Bloom Public Health, a pharmaceutical think-tank that has been in the forefront of championing cutting-edge and innovative solutions, towards ensuring the availability of quality medicines in Nigeria and beyond.
According to a press release made available to pharmanewsonline by Bloom Public Health’s Communication and Branding Lead, Mr Emeka Maduagwuna, the partnership will see the company support NNMDA’s capacity-building efforts and aid in establishing quality management systems that meet international standards of operation. The partnership also aims to achieve the goal of ensuring the availability of safe medicines from local sources for the citizens of Nigeria.
“The use of natural medicines has been an age-long tradition in Nigeria and even more so, ever-increasing in practice in contemporary times as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. The use of natural medicine is an element of culture in Nigeria and therefore requires continuous research to identify its benefits and verify that it is not harmful to the Nigerian Citizen”.
“This partnership between the organisations would result in the accreditation of NNMDA’s Laboratories in ISO 17025: 2017. The achievement of the accreditation enhances the reliability of test results generated by the NNMDA laboratory, this will improve the safety of natural medicines in Nigeria. The Bloom experts would also provide training for the technical staff of the organisation”, the release stated further.
After signing the MoU, the Director General/ Chief Executive of Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency, Dr Samuel Etatuvie said “In today’s research globally, no organisation succeeds in isolation, as such we are open for networking, collaboration and general partnership for the common public health interest in our nation and globally. Hence this collaboration with Bloom Public Health becomes necessary and timely”.
In his remarks, the CEO of Bloom Public Health, Prof. Chimezie Anyakora, said “We can no longer ignore the importance and widespread use of traditional medicines in Africa. Bloom is looking forward to this partnership and believes it will be one more opportunity to advance public health in Nigeria. We are excited to see the commitment of the leadership and staff of NNMDA and promise to match it with our own commitment. This will be highly beneficial to the Nigerian population and bring traditional medicines close to the mainstream pharmaceutical sector.”
Bloom Public Health, a technical partner of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) and the National Association of Industrial Pharmacists (NAIP) has been very pragmatic in its resolve to redefine standards in public health administration and quality drug availability in Africa. It has been instrumental to the establishment of a couple of major health-sector initiatives like the Pharmacity project, West Africa’s largest pharmaceutical park in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. It also recently unveiled its Cameroun office where it signed a renewed MoU with the country’s National Drug Quality Control and Valuation Laboratory (LANACOME).
