UK gov’t donates laboratory equipment to Ghana’s Veterinary Services

By Godwill Arthur Mensah

Accra, July 14, GNA – The Government of the United Kingdom, through its Animal Health System Strengthening (AHSS) project, has donated equipment to Ghana’s Veterinary Services to enhance its efforts to achieve certification of the diagnostic laboratories international standards.

The donation of the equipment marks a significant milestone in Ghana’s quest to strengthen its animal health system to better protect, detect and respond to known and emerging zoonotic diseases.

The supply of the laboratory equipment by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), an agency of the UK’s Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), was in response to a request made by the Veterinary Services Directorate (VSD).

The items include Eppendorf Centrifuge 5425 with Rotors, Campylobacter blood free selective agar CCDA, and other reagents, to reinforce the veterinary laboratory diagnostic capacities in Accra and Kumasi veterinary laboratories.

This will enable the Ghana Veterinary Services to achieve an International Standards Organisation’s (ISO) accreditation of the diagnostic laboratories.

At a brief ceremony in Accra to hand-over the equipment to the Service, Ms Beth Cadman, the Development Director for the British High Commission in Ghana, lauded the VSD for its crucial role in preventing and controlling known and emerging animal diseases, as well as protecting public health.

She said Ghana was one of the UK’s longest standing and strongest partners in Africa and further assured the UK government’s continuous support to Ghana towards building a resilient animal health system.

While receiving the equipment on behalf of the VSD, Dr Theophilus Odoom, the Head of the Accra Veterinary Laboratory, said DEFRA AHSS project had come at an opportune time to improve its laboratory quality management.

He pledged the Directorate’s commitment to ensure productive utilisation of the equipment to achieve the ISO certification.

Mr Kingsley Mickey Aryee, the Registrar of the Veterinary Council of Ghana, said the Council had the mandate to ensure that animal health standards were maintained in Ghana and thanked the AHSS project for the intervention to ensure quality management system.

The AHSS project has been working with the Veterinary Services to strengthen capabilities in animal health system through the implementation of the Animal Health Systems Strengthening (AHSS) project.

The project has assisted the VSD laboratories to improve their quality management systems and disease surveillance capabilities

It has also helped to reduce the frequency and impact of animal disease outbreaks and minimise emergencies and transmissions.

GNA