Health organisation wants adjustment to sections of fake drug, unwholesome foods act

Health organisation under the umbrella of Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has advocated for an adjustment to some sections of the Fake Drug and Unwholesome Foods Act to improve the efficacy of the legislation in contending the proliferation of substandard products.

ACPN stated this in an open letter addressed to the Senate President, Sen. Godswill Akpabio and also raised the alarm over the increasing prevalence of fake and counterfeit drugs, as well as unwholesome foods and drinks in the country.

The letter, entitled, ‘Renewed influx of fake and counterfeit drugs and unwholesome foods and drinks in Nigeria’ was signed by the ACPN National Chairman, Ambrose I. Eze and National Secretary, Omokhafe Ashore.

The health organisation in the letter called for an amendment to Section 3 of the existing Act concerning penalties, stating the urgent need for stronger measures to combat this growing public health threat.

The letter therefore, reads in part: “Your Excellency, the dilemma of fake drugs and unwholesome foods has always been with us in Nigeria.

“As far back as 1988, the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), carried out studies on the prevailing drug distribution system in Nigeria. The WHO studies revealed that 33 percent of drugs in circulation in Nigeria were fake, and 7 percent of this quantum was fatal on consumption.

“This led to the promulgation of Nigeria’s first decree on fake, counterfeit, and unwholesome food substances (Decree 21 of 1988), which was subsequently amended by Decree 17 of 1989.

“Ten years later, in 1998, a review exercise by the Faculty of Pharmacy UNILAG revealed more startling realities. At this time, 49.6 percent of fake drugs were traceable to Open Drug Markets (ODM), and 32.8 percent were directed to the doorstep of Patent Medicine Vendors. 12.8 percent of the fake drug incidence led to fatalities, while 10.8 percent ended in therapeutic failure.

“The late Dora Akunyili era gave some hope and respite as it appeared there was a significant drop in fake drug incidence between 2001 and 2009 when she held sway at NAFDAC.

“The influx of fake drugs, foods, and especially drinks in Nigeria has become a major source of worry in contemporary times.

“Our usually reliable and dependable research-based efforts indicate that we are back to the days of over 50 percent of drugs in circulation being fake and substandard as against official figures hovering between 13 percent and 15 percent.”

Despite some modest efforts by NAFDAC, the letter stated that the influx of fake drugs and unwholesome food and drinks has surged very significantly in the last five years when the Federal Task Force and the equivalent State Task Forces have almost become moribund with negligible regulatory output.

According to ACPN in the letter, the closing stages of the 1999 transition, the Fake Drug Act was entrenched in the statutes but has not been substantially activated in recent times.

One of the most positive outputs in the new order at NAFDAC, the health organisation said was the landmark collaboration with the PCN in January 2024 to seal the Sabon-Geri drug market immediately after the first Coordinated Wholesale Centres (CWC) in Nigeria was officially launched in Kano, Kano State.

“For the records, the CWC are the well-regulated drug centers which are designed to replace the Open Drug Markets (ODMs) by virtue of the National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG) released ten years ago in 2015.

“Your Excellency, it is the spirit of such collaborations we desire to save consumers of health from the almost 5 million unregistered drug-selling outfits that dot both the rural and urban centers in Nigeria.

“The NASS must, as a matter of urgency, amend the existing Fake Drug and Unwholesome Food Act to become a much more potent Act of parliament.

“Apart from the dangers that Nigerians were familiar with in the case of fake drugs, the fake drink conundrum is assuming a gargantuan tens-of-billion-naira business championed by modern-day merchants of death.”