1. 4 th - 18 November 2011 ICIUM 2011 Conference Antalya, Turkey 16/10/2015

2. Daniel Kojo Arhinful No guchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research University of Ghana Experiences and use of the MeTA Data Disclosure Survey Tools in GHANA 07/12/2009 2

3. Introduction MeTA’s overall goal is to increase access to essential medicines for the poorest of the poor in developing countries Ghana and other MeTA pilot countries are developing strategies to promote greater transparency & accountability regarding policies, practices, and outcomes through data disclosure MeTA16/10/20153

4. Why Disclosure? Objectives – Enable national MeTA stakeholders to prioritize country activities to facilitate progressive disclosure over time; – Create a baseline against which changes in transparency and disclosure during the MeTA pilot implementation can be measured Consonance with MeTA’s overall goal to increase access to essential medicines for the poorest in developing countries MeTA16/10/20154

5. Core areas of Data Disclosure M edicines registration and quality assurance Availability of medicines Price of medicines Policies and practices concerning the promotion of medicines MeTA16/10/20155

6. Scope of Information Disclosure Policies – the laws and regulations that are in place; Practices – suggested procedures to follow and actual practices; and Results –achievements in the core area MeTA16/10/20156

7. Scope of Questions Policies: Do laws/policies exist? Are they published? Do associated regulations exist? Practices: Are procedures published? How enforced? Which data exist? Who has access? Results: Which data are available? Who uses data? Barriers to use? How to promote wider use? MeTA16/10/20157

8. Process of Data Collection Tool developed by Harvard Group Identification of Key Respondents Questionnaire administered to key Informants Initial discussion of results by technical sub- group Re-Visits where necessary to validate results Discussion of results by Governing Council Dissemination and discussion by multi- stakeholder Group MeTA16/10/20158

9. EXPERIENCE AND USE OF THE TOOL How did the tools fare? 16/10/2015 MeTA9

10. Policies of Data Disclosure Do Policies exist? Are they published? Do associated regulations exist?  Very useful in unearthing various policies practices and existing results. Examples of existing policies:  Drug regulation - Food and Drugs Law, P.N.D.C.L 305B, 1992 Customs Excise and Preventive Service (Management) Law 1993; Value Added Tax Act 1998 (Act 546); Public Procurement Act 663 (2003); National Health Insurance Act 2003 (Act 650) and Regulation 2004, (L.I.1809); National Drug Policy (MOH), 2004 MeTA16/10/201510

11. Are practices published? YES – Available for sale at Assemblies Press, GPC – Distributed free of charge e.g. Drug Policy – Websites e.g.: http://www.fdbghana.gov.gh/http://www.fdbghana.gov.gh/ http://ghanastandards.org/ – Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) e.g. – Internal Document not usually in public domain – Egs. Central Medical Stores Analytical Reports Tender Procurement Evaluation reports Quantities and cost of available medicines MeTA16/10/201511

12. Who has access to existing data? Everyone? – Law makes it mandatory for anybody to have access but more often…… Various entities (technical assistance providers and programme implementers, health care providers, regulators, importers, manufacturers, researchers, students, donors & multilateral agencies) MeTA16/10/201512

13. What are the barriers to disclosure  Culture of non-disclosure despite existing laws & policy  Dealing with sensitivities of various interest groups  Mistrust among stakeholders  Low literacy among the population  Dormant consumer groups  Key websites are not updated regularly  Lack of resources to disseminate widely  Right to Information Bill yet to be passed into legislation 16/10/2015

14. Recommendations on how to promote wider disclosure Broader engagement of key stakeholders in a very transparent manner Promote public awareness & education on medicines access More copies of reports printed to meet increasing demand. Create more awareness in the media & community groups/CSO Maintenance of key websites eg. MoH, FDB, GSS & NDIRC 16/10/2015

15. Summary and Conclusions Data disclosure among multi-stakeholder group provided the following benefits:  Stimulated discussion  Provided grounds to share and learn among various stakeholders  Provided understanding of existing problems  Highlighted challenges for working among multi stakeholder groups  Raised useful questions and led to important recommendations 16/10/2015