A one-week training course began last Monday in Yaounde.

Professor Sietske Rubow, of the Stellenbosch University Cape Town, South Africa says when one talks about radioactive products, the first thing that comes to mind is to make sure that the people using the radioactivity products are not exposed or are in any danger and that the patient on treatment must get exactly the right treatment to the disease and not an overdose which can be harmful to them. It is because of the long term dangers of radioactivity products that a group of experts in some African countries and part of Europe, involved in the preparation of radiopharmaceuticals, began a one week training course in Yaounde on how to make sure that radioactivity products are safe for the medical personnel working with them and for patients who need the medicines.

The training course, opened on July 9 by the Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation is organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency in cooperation with the government of Cameroon. The aims are to strengthen capacity in the preparation and end user testing of radiopharmaceuticals as part of “Quality Assurance” as well as ensure that participants, who are members of the RAF/2/008 Strengthening and Expanding Radiopharmacy Services in Africa (AFRA) gain knowledge to impart radiopharmacy facility design knowledge for a new service or for upgrading existing services based on real examples from participants.

While noting that radio pharmacy is the science that deals with medicines which contain radio activities, Professor Sietske Rubow explained that these are medicines used either to diagnose or treat disease which must meet all the requirements for radiopharmaceuticals especially if they are injected. By the end of the course, participants would have learnt about the current way of checking the quality of their radioactivity products because those with too much exposure to radioactivity suffer from skin disease or eyes depending on the type of radioactivity products. In general, although the quantity of radioactivity products used is of low dosage, experts stressed that those who use them must be careful.