The recent destruction of N120 billion worth of substandard and falsified medicines, food products, and other regulated products by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, marks a significant victory in the agency's ongoing battle to protect public health in Nigeria.
The Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye emphasised the importance of ensuring that only safe and wholesome food products reach Nigerian consumers, even as she warned that the full weight of the law would be brought to bear on persons who exploit the trust of Nigerians by compromising the quality of essential goods like food and medicine.
The scale of the destruction underscores the gravity of the situation. Everyone is at risk of encountering substandard and falsified medical products that severely impact public health, leading to severe and often fatal consequences. The problem significantly undermines health systems, erodes trust in healthcare, and results in financial losses for both patients and legitimate industries.
Substandard and falsified products can accelerate the spread of drug-resistant infections, making once-treatable conditions deadly. For patients, the consequences are dire: relying on ineffective or harmful products can exacerbate illnesses and lead to prolonged suffering.
The World Health Organisation, WHO, defines substandard products as those that do not meet quality standards and specifications, often due to poor manufacturing practices or inadequate quality control. Such falsified medical products deliberately misrepresent their identity, composition, or source. They are often created and distributed with the deliberate intent to deceive consumers for financial gain.
NAFDAC over the years has conducted numerous raids and seizures, removing huge consignments of counterfeit medications and unwholesome food and drink products from the market.
Nevertheless, it has remained a significant national health problem, impacting all types of medical products, including vaccines, antibiotics, antimalarials, hypertensives, and cancer therapies. The impact on well-being and the economic burden are substantial, with billions of naira lost annually due to ineffective treatments, increased healthcare costs, and loss of productivity.
While the continued circulation of substandard and falsified medicines in Nigeria remains a multi-faceted challenge, weaknesses within the regulatory framework, limited resources, inadequate enforcement by NAFDAC and other regulatory agencies, and gaps in inter-agency collaboration, are factors that contribute to the malady.
The compromised pharmaceutical supply chain, characterised by weak oversight, limited traceability, and inadequate storage and transportation facilities, cannot be ruled out. The high cost of healthcare and access to quality healthcare services should be mitigated to dissuade counterfeiters from inadvertently creating a market for them to exploit.
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Worse still, the weak border controls and porous borders add to the complications, coupled with limited public awareness and education campaigns about the dangers of counterfeit medicines. Addressing these challenges requires a multi-pronged approach involving strengthening regulatory frameworks, improving supply chain management, enhancing public awareness, and improving access to quality healthcare services.
The perpetrators must be named and shamed in the relentless pursuit of bringing them to justice and ensuring the safety of Nigerians. Tackling the problem effectively necessitates improved coordination, robust legal frameworks, heightened public awareness, and stronger enforcement measures.
