Liberia currently faces an existential health threat due to the prevalence of substandard and expired drugs and other medicinal products across the country, the Managing Director of Liberia Medicine and Health Product Regulatory Authority (LMHRA), Luke L. Bawo, has alarmed.
He highlighted a concerning reality where approximately 45% of medicines and health products in Liberia are either expired or substandard, posing a significant health threat to the population.
The LMHRA's boss made these alarming revelations recently at a day-long media engagement workshop his entity organized in Monrovia. The workshop focused on the theme of "Preventing False Advertisements on Health & Non-Health Products" to inform the media about the negative impacts of misleading advertisements on health and emphasize the significance of promoting accurate and reliable information.
The LMHRA boss expressed concerns about the limited testing of health products in circulation, noting that only around 20% of these commodities undergo rigorous testing to ensure their safety and efficacy. Additionally, the prevalence of expired products -- amounting to approximately 180 tons scattered across various locations -- poses a risk of re-entering the market if not managed and disposed of properly.
"Liberia faces an existential health threat. The products we have in the country are even more dangerous to the lives of the people just like the diseases we are trying to prevent," he said, indicating that the quality of commodities circulating in the country is far below standard.
"Approximately 45% of medicine or health products circulating in Liberia here are either expiring commodities or substandard," he noted. "That is the threat we face. Have we ever asked ourselves why is it that people will attend health facilities, the formal health sector, go to clinics, and go to hospitals, whatever commodity they take, they still come home and complain about not getting well?" he asked rhetorically.
"The testing of health commodities and circulation is around 20%, the LMHRA disclosed at the training. "We are still not performing the full compliance of testing that is required to ensure that only commodities that are safe, efficacious, and of good quality are in Liberia.
"We have another issue." he continued, "This country is flooded with expired products. Just in the two and a half months that we have been on the job, the total assessment that we have done around the country, we have close to 180 tons of expiring drugs situated all around the country, either at the central medicine store, in depots around the country, or in health facilities," Bawo disclosed. "The threat this poses is, if they are managed properly or if they are not disposed of safely, they will find their way again on the market. These are some of the things that we are working towards."
Another key issue discussed at the training was the existing distrust in the formal health sector due to the prevalence of substandard products. Bawo pointed out that when patients do not experience the expected outcomes from products obtained through formal health channels, it can erode trust and prompt individuals to seek alternative health sources, undermining the efforts of healthcare professionals and regulatory bodies.
"When people attend facilities and they are not getting well, they begin to look for other sources. Some begin to go to the informal health sectors, those traditional healers, to the black buckets in the market and in just about anywhere they can get some relief," Bawo said.
He underscored the critical nature of the LMHRA's mandate, emphasizing the importance of ensuring that all medical and health-related products circulating in the country meet stringent quality, safety, and efficacy standards.
"It is our mandate to ensure the quality, safety, and efficacy of health commodities in circulation in Liberia," he said. "The LMHRA is mandated to ensure that commodities that are in circulation in the country, whether medicine, health products, supplement, narcotics, and anything that supports life and health are of quality, are safe and efficacious. That is our main mandate."
The LMHRA workshop aimed to strengthen the collaboration between the LMHRA and media institutions in combating false advertisements.
Discussions at the workshop also covered LMHRA regulations regarding the advertising of medicines and health products, outlining the shared responsibility of businesses, media representatives, and advertising agents in ensuring the accuracy of advertisements to prevent any harm to consumers.
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Participants were updated on LMHRA's ongoing initiatives to strengthen testing facilities for health commodities, highlighting the need for enhanced testing to bolster safety measures and enhance public health outcomes. Presentations were made by various experts to show how precarious the situation is and how it can be mitigated.
The LMHRA emphasized the integral role of the media in disseminating reliable and accurate information on health products, reaffirming the importance of collaborative endeavors to safeguard public health and rebuild confidence in Liberia's formal healthcare system.
"We are glad that we are having this meeting today because we are engaging the media. To compound it, we know that some of the reasons people are confused about what to do, what to take, and where to go, is because false advertisements abound. We all know that non-health products have been touted as the panacea, cure-all. In our quest to ensure the safety and quality, and every case of a commodity that circulates and in extension protecting the health of humans, we have to curtail these false advertisements and the media play an important role," MD Bowa said.
