Evaluation of good review practices at the Food and Drugs Authority of Ghana as it strives to become a World Health Organization-listed agency

The aim of this study was to assess the good review practices (GRevPs) of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) Ghana in order to identify opportunities for improvement. Reviewers of the FDA Ghana completed an established, structured and multi-dimensional questionnaire for the assessment of GRevPs. Twenty-seven of 30 assessors took part in the study; 70% reported that GRevPs have been implemented and fully adopted across the authority. The three most common reasons quality measures were implemented at FDA Ghana were to be more efficient, ensure consistency, and to minimize errors. Most respondents believed that the current GRevPs framework could be improved and additional training to learn and understand how GRevPs are to be used and incorporated into daily work; 90% reported that the FDA Ghana has a consistent method for documenting GRevPs that need improvement and a mechanism to facilitate updating. In general, the importance of GRevPs was well understood by the assessors; however, target timelines were not well followed at both the department and agency levels. This study provided a baseline for the FDA Ghana GRevP knowledge, attitudes, and practices as well as areas for improvement to work toward becoming a World Health Organization-listed authority.