The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has in a Press Statement informed the General Public to disregard claims that 70% of medications in circulation are fake as published on Vanguard Newspaper.
According to NAFDAC, A study of Counterfeit and Substandard Medicines in Nigeria conducted by NAFDAC in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Department for International Development (DFID ) in 2005 revealed that counterfeit medicines stood at 16.7% in 2005 as against 40% in 2001.
The publication went on to disclose the high percentage of quality malarial medications (98.7%) in circulation in recent times and further buttressed that this administration was more focused on local production as opposed to importations which the agency reports ensure drug security, reduces unemployment.
In a similar vein, the Safe Medicines Foundation has thrown some weight behind NAFDAC’s claims instructing the Press to conduct due diligence hitherto.
However, looking at how NAFDAC put emphasis on the circulation of Malaria drugs, it then makes one wonder if Malaria drugs are the only drugs in circulation in Nigeria, or if the percentage of drugs in circulation that is non-malarial drugs are inconsequential.
