In a bid to combat the incidence of Substandard and Falsified (SF) medicines in the country, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has engaged stakeholders in the pharmaceutical products supply chain in its resolve to put an end to the menace and effectively safeguard the health of Nigerians.
These was contained in a statement by the Director General (DG), Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, at a stakeholder’s meeting organised by NAFDAC weekend.
The meeting emphasised the need to explore how to combat the sale and distribution of Substandard and Falsified Medical Products within the supply chain, saying that the agency would not hesitate to clamp down on wholesale and retail outlets where fake drugs are dispensed for public use.
She said the engagement with pharma supply chain stakeholders in Nigeria serves as a means of thinking together and putting in place a position that will represent or guide collective efforts and strategy to prevent, detect, and respond to substandard and falsified medicinal products, adding that the goal is to ensure that medical products in circulation are of the quality standard required and safe for public use.
“The high prevalence of SF in Africa is a major threat to public health, attributing this to the fact that regulation in the region is limited with about 10% of African National Regulatory Agencies NRAs having achieved ML3.
She stated that the menace of substandard and falsified medical products threatens access to safe, efficacious, and affordable medicines, undermining health systems and the achievement of Universal Health Coverage globally.
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