NAFDAC urges healthcare stakeholders to fight counterfeit drugs 

NAFDAC urges healthcare stakeholders to fight counterfeit drugs 

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDAC), on Wednesday, urged health sector stakeholders in the South-South region to join the fight against substandard and falsified (SF) medical products in Nigeria.

The Director General (DG) of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, made the remark at a two-day sensitisation workshop organised by the Agency in Port Harcourt.

She said that the workshop, sponsored by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was for sensitisation on the green book, traceability of products and paediatric regulation.

Adeyeye, represented by Fraden Bitrus, the Director, Post Marketing Surveillance Directorate, NAFDAC, said that the agency had over the years deployed various measures to combat substandard and falsified products.

The DG said that part of the measures was the agency’s publication on Consumer Safety and counterfeit products in daily newspapers.

Others are the “Shine Your Eyes” programme on national TV, and technologies like MAS, Truscan, Minilab, NAFDAC and “Your Health” on NTA, Channels and TVC stations, among others.

She said that Low and Medium Income Countries (LMIC)  had grappled with a man-made evil called Substandard and Falsified (SF) products, commonly known as counterfeit and fake medical products.

According to Adeyeye, these products are produced by greedy businessmen and their international collaborators to get rich.

“This is the worst inhumanity of man to fellow men; now, the counterfeiters have assumed more sophisticated dimensions to advance their trade.

“Therefore, the Agency is poised to use technologies and modern means to mitigate the activities of counterfeiters and therefore, the need for sensitisation of stakeholders is apt,” she stated.

Adeyeye further said that the workshop would provide information and hands-on training on the NAFDAC Green book, the Traceability Regulation 2024 and the Pediatric Regulation 2024.

She explained that the workshop would ensure that the regulator and the regulated were on the same page in combating SF medical products.

The DG advised the stakeholders to use NAFDAC Green-book which is online as a resource for identifying a product’s source.

Adeyeye added that they should enter the product name, brand name, or registration number to search for information about its registration status, verify authenticity, and if the product was listed in the green book.

She advised stakeholders to identify the counterfeit products through the technology tool using https://bit.ly/4KFZvza to ensure that they were authentic.

She explained that with the technology, stakeholders could detect and reject SF products’ entry into the supply chain.

“The NAFDAC Pediatric Regulation 2024 is a special Regulation to address the special need of our children.

“The special needs of children are addressed in this regulation in addition to what registration regulation has addressed,” she said.

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She called on all stakeholders in the healthcare space to support the laudable initiatives to combat SF and ensure that they provide quality, safe, and efficacious medical products to the people of Nigeria.

Speaking also, Dr Adaeze Oreh, the Rivers State Commissioner for Health, commended the NAFDAC DG and her team for engaging in a laudable project, clamping down some insensitive Nigerians who placed no value on human lives.

Oreh was represented at the occasion by Mrs Quanta Dapper, the  Coordinator, Drug and Substance Abuse Control and Focal Person, Pharmacovigilance, in the ministry.

She noted that NAFDAC had intensified efforts in the fight against the unscrupulous elements in the society and expressed the readiness of the state to join in the fight.

She said that the state would collaborate with NAFDAC  to eradicate substandard drugs in the society, adding that already, Rivers had a  task force on Counterfeit, Substandard and fake drugs.

Oreh emphasised that the state would continue to ensure that it clamped down on the unpatriotic citizens who were selling death to the people.

Also, the NAFDAC Director, South-South Zone, Mr Oligbu Chukwuma, assured that the agency would continue to monitor stakeholders’ compliance.

Chukwu stated that the state Coordinators in the zone are the ambassadors to drive the message down to their various states as they always submit monthly report of activities to the Zonal Director.

“We have representatives and resource persons from all over to ensure that the depth of information is robust enough for them to disseminate.

“These are all part of the anti counterfeit measure that is in place; as you can see, it’s zero tolerance to counterfeit in Nigeria,”  Chukwuma said.