On 14-15th April, BDD held its First Intensive Lab in Accra, which was attended by team members based across the project’s host institutions. The team reflected on outcomes from the “Governing Wellness in Ghana” conference and identified next steps. Across the wider project work, team members accounted for progress made and discussed plans for research dissemination through publication, public events and conference presentation.

The BDD team discussed their work mapping legal and legislative frameworks on contested health claims across three regions and countries therein: Europe (United Kingdom, Ireland, Greece and France); West Africa (Ghana and Senegal); and North America (Canada and Mexico). They identified where similar approaches and best practices to adopted across these locations, and where a comparative approach could be utilised. Simultaneously, they emphasised where methodologies must be grounded in the specific legal, historical, political and cultural frameworks of these varied contexts.

The project team developed their ongoing workstreams, identifying synergies and space for further collaborations amongst team members based across the project’s host institutions. This included the following workstreams: complementary and alternative health practices in Ireland; legal and regulatory contestations around birth and reproductive health; evolving legislative frameworks for psychedelic assisted therapies and medical cannabis; health claims surrounding consumer EEG neurotech devices; the endorsement of health/wellness products by social media influencers.