The Director, South West Zone of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDAC), Mrs Roseline Ajayi has advised Nigerians to be sensitive and pay attention to details of drugs they purchase for use, saying, the agency’s survey has shown that the level of prevalence of substandard and falsified products is high across the nation.
She gave the advice at a one day sensitization campaign on Healthcare Providers on the Roles of Effective Risk Communication on Consumer Exposure to Substandard and Falsified (SF) Medicines in Nigeria held at the Ibadan Business School on Wednesday.
Speaking on behalf of the Director General of the Agency, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, Mrs Ajayi said the sensitization Campaign became imperative on healthcare providers and stakeholders to admonish users on fake and substandard products particularly drugs.
According to her, “under the current administration of the Director General, Professor Mojisola Adeye, it became imperative to embark on the sensitization campaign to prevail on substandard and falsified products.
She said the National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control, (NAFDAC) frowned at high level of fake, substandard and falsified drugs across the nation.
She said one of the strategies the agency intend to use to curb the menace was to embark on aggressive sensitisation and engagement of different stakeholders particularly those in the distribution of healthcare products like medicine.
She said, “We have showed them what we have discovered on the field, we want them to know the concern of NAFDAC, we want to also know their concern, so as to know the way forward.
“This sensitisation is not ending here, we are still going to pay advocacy visit to churches, mosque, traditional rulers, opinion leaders on how to avoid patronising people selling substandard, unwholesome and fake products.
“This is just the first phase and we have brought in pharmacists that are involved in distribution of medicine to enlighten then on what to look out for, concern of NAFDAC and what is their own concern also and how we can put these incidence to the bearest minimum.”
She however said that the core mandate of the agency is to regulate and control activities surrounding regulated products, which include, importation, exportation, manufacture, distribution, storage and advertisement of regulated products.
“I bring you greetings on behalf of the Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye on this all important occasion.
The (NAFDAC) was established by Decree No. 15 of 1993 as amended by Decree No. 19 of 1999 and now the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control Act Cap N1 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004.
The act mandates the Agency to regulates and control the manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale and use of Food, Drugs, Cosmetics, Medical Devices, Packaged Water, Chemicals and Detergents (collectively known as regulated products).
“The Director General has been very passionate on the sensitization and stakeholders engagement as one key strategy employed by NAFDAC in the pursuit of the mandate of the Agency. This is because she realized that NAFDAC needed the cooperation and collaboration of the stakeholders to sanitize every sector so as to safeguards the health of the citizens.”
She noted that the issues of substandard and falsified products is a global concern for which appropriate attention is being given, saying, saying survey are conducted from time to time to determine the level of awareness by healthcare providers and patients.
“The outcome of such survey necessitated the need for sensitization and engagement of the healthcare providers to interact on how the prevalence of substandard and falsified medicine can be reduced.
“From the experiences and survey report, it was observed that fakers and counterfeiters are getting smarter and faster taking advantage of the possibilities and opportunities of advancement in technology., hence the sensitization and campaign programme.
“This is the reason why the Director general is collaborating with funding partners to ensure that information and updates are disseminated to the relevant stakeholders on the findings and way forward in curbing the prevalence.
This gathering is one of the components of the sensitization programme. In the days following, we shall be paying advocacy visit to some traditional rulers, opinion leaders, church and mosque leaders to sensitize them on the same concern.
“It is the expectation of the Director General that these effort will yield positive result as we jointly pursue the eradication of substandard and falsified medicinal products in Nigeria.
In his remark, the chairman, Association of Community Pharmacist of Nigeria, Oyo State branch, Pharmacist Adebayo Gbadamosi urged Nigerians to always patronize registered pharmacist, not quacks to buy original drugs.
He said aside buying drugs from registered pharmacists, people should also check the manufacturing date, expiring date, batch number and proper address of a manufacturer of such drugs.
He said, “Some of these drugs also has scratch, you can scratch to know the authenticity of the drugs, if our people are informed and they stop buying fake drugs, it will discouraged the quacks.”
