On Jun. 4, 2025, the Conference of State Parties (CoSP) of the African Medicines Agency (AMA) announced the appointment of Dr. Delese Mimi Darko from the Republic of Ghana as the inaugural Director General of the African Medicines Agency.

Dr. Darko, renowned for her exemplary leadership as the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), brings a wealth of experience and a distinguished track record in regulatory excellence to her new role. Her appointment signifies a bold step forward in strengthening regulatory oversight, promoting access to quality, safe, and efficacious medicines, and fostering pharmaceutical innovation across Africa.

“The appointment of the Director General is an important step toward the operationalisation of AMA,” stated H.E. Amb. Amma Twum-Amoah,Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development of the African Union. “The AMA has been established to harmonize and strengthen regulatory systems for medical products across Africa. We are confident that under Dr. Darko’s leadership, the Agency is poised to accelerate its efforts in coordinating and standardizing regulatory practices, facilitating joint assessments and inspections, and fostering a harmonized approach to medicines regulation that will ultimately benefit all African citizens.”

The AMA Treaty was adopted by Heads of States and Government during their 32^nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly on 11 February 2019 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The African Medicines Agency aspires to enhance capacity of State Parties and AU recognized Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to regulate medical products in order to improve access to quality, safe and efficacious medical products on the continent. AMA shall build on the efforts of the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization (AMRH) initiative (2009), which is led by the Africa Union Development Agency – the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD).

The AMRH initiative provides guidance to AU recognized Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Regional Health Organizations (RHOs), to facilitate harmonization of regulatory requirements and practice among the national medicines authorities (NMRAs) of the AU Member States. AMA will be the second specialized health agency of the African Union after the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).