Eliminating Falsified Medicines in Africa- How the legislative framework can help

Dr Ahmed E. Ogwell OUMA

Deputy Director at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC)

Dr Ahmed Ogwell currently serves as the Deputy Director at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) – a specialised agency of the African Union (AU). In this capacity, he works with AU Member States and other partners, leading a team of experts in securing Africa’s health through effective preparedness, early detection and rapid response to disease outbreaks and public health emergencies on the continent of Africa.
Dr Ahmed Ogwell has over 25 years of experience in public health as a social and developmental agenda at national, regional, and global levels. He has ably held senior positions in national government, the United Nations (UN) system, non-governmental organisations, and the AU.
Dr Ahmed Ogwell previously worked as an advisor to the World Health Organization Director General and worked at the World Health Organisation Regional office for Africa.
Dr Ahmed Ogwell is an alumnus of the University Of Nairobi School Of Public Health and the Centre for International Health at the University of Bergen in Norway. He is married with children.

Oscar ALARCÓN JIMÉNEZ

Legal Advisor, Council of Europe

Executive Secretary of the Committee of the Parties to the MEDICRIME Convention, Mr Alarcón Jiménez is legal advisor at the Council of Europe Criminal Law Co-operation Unit. His main fields of work are the fight against new emerging crimes such as the falsification of medical products, the trafficking in human organs, the offences related to cultural properties as well as transnational organized crime.

Spanish lawyer, graduated from the Pompeu Fabra University (Spain), Mr Alarcón holds a post-graduate degree in European Union Law (LL.M) from the Carlos III University (Spain) and the Europa-Institut (Germany) where he specialised in International Economic and Media law.

Since joining the Council of Europe (CoE) in 2002, Mr Alarcón Jiménez has developed his professional experience in the CoE political bodies (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe) as well as in the intergovernmental sector, mainly at the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law developing legal standard settings, where he was Co-Secretary of the European Committee of Crime Problems.

Before joining the Criminal Law Division, Mr Alarcón Jiménez worked in the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) in the protection and promotion of human rights through the implementation of various CoE-EU Joint Projects in Eastern Europe. During almost 2 years, Mr Alarcón Jiménez was based in Kyiv (Ukraine) as a Team Leader of a project aimed at assisting with the establishment of an independent, impartial, efficient and professional judiciary in Ukraine. Mr Alarcón Jiménez has also an extensive experience in the electoral field where he is currently doing a research.

Dr. Titus Beyuo

Consultant Obstetrician Gynaecologist, Pharmacologist and a Clinical Epidemiologist

Dr. Titus Beyuo is consultant Obstetrician Gynaecologist, pharmacologist and a clinical epidemiologist. He is a Lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School. He is a Fellow of the West African of Surgeons, Member of the the Ghana college of Physicians and Surgeons and aFogarty / NIH Global Health Fellow.
He is currently the Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association.
He is a passionate advocate of women’s health and sexual and reproductive health in general. His research interest focuses on medicines use in pregnancy and on improving care outcomes of pregnancies complicated by Diabetes, Hypertension and Sickle Cell disease.

Vigil Edward Prah-Ashun

Head, Drug Market Surveillance Department, FDA Ghana

VIGIL EDWARD PRAH-ASHUN graduated with a Master of Pharmacy from the Higher Medical School, SOFIA, BULGARIA and holds a certificate in leadership from Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration(GIMPA) Accra, Ghana. Vigil is a Pharmacist and a member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana with over 18 years’ experience in regulation of medicine with respect to Marketing Surveillance, GMP inspections and Port Control. After graduating as a Pharmacist, Vigil did his National service at the Korle-Bu Teaching hospital, Accra. He then worked with a Community Pharmacy in Accra before joining the Food and Drugs Board now Authority.
In 2004, Vigil was one of the pioneers of the newly established Takoradi Zonal Office of the Food and Drugs Board. In 2008 he was promoted to the rank of senior regulatory officer and transferred to Head the Drug control Unit at the Tema office.
In 2013, He was appointed the head of the Ashanti Regional Office of the Food and Drugs Authority, the second biggest city in Ghana. In 2017, he was appointed the Head of the Drug Market Surveillance Department at the FDA head office, a position he currently holds.
Vigil has worked on a lot of project on substance and falsified medicine organized by WHO, WAHO, USAID/USP, Interpol and currently a member of the Ministerial Implementation committee on Track and Trace in Ghana.

Kawaldip Sehmi

Chief Executive Officer, IAPO

Kawaldip oversees the strategy and direction of IAPO. He joins with extensive public health experience at national and international level. Kawaldip previously held the position of CEO at Richmond Psychosocial Foundation International and worked as Managing Director of Coram Children’s Legal Centre. He has European and international public health experience as Director of the Global Health Inequalities Programme and as Chairman of the European Network of Quitlines.
Kawaldip’s qualifications include an MSc in the Public Health International Programme from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, an MBA in Business Administration from the London Business School and Open University, and an LLB (Hons) from the London College of Law.

Sofia Khan

Pharmacy Masters Student at University College London

Sofia Khan is a final year Masters of Pharmacy student at University College London. She takes a keen interest in substandard and falsified medicines and is currently the co-student lead of the UCL Fight The Fakes campaign. She is part of the Royal Academy of Science International Trust's Girls in Science 4 SGDs initiative and is currently working within the team as an executive editor of the editorial committee and as a peer mentor. Her interests lie in global health diplomacy, SDG advocacy and gender equity within the healthcare workforce.

Hoda Kanso

Master’s in Pharmacy Student at University College London

Hoda Kanso is completing her final year of Master’s in Pharmacy at University College London, specialising in technologies that detect substandard and falsified medicines in Low and Middle Income countries. Hoda is a peer mentor on the Girls In Science 4 SDGs International Platform, a program of the Royal Academy of Science International Trust. Hoda is a student lead at UCL Fight the Fakes, the first academic partner of the Fight the Fakes Alliance, pursuing her passion in increasing access to safer medicines and public health policy.