Representatives approve national investigation into fake malaria drugs

The House of Representatives on Thursday directed its Committee on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to conduct a baseline survey in the country’s six geopolitical zones on fake anti-malaria drugs and report back to it within four weeks.

The House resolution follows the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance presented to lawmakers in plenary by members representing Orhionmwon/Uhunmwode and Arochukwu/Ohafia federal constituencies of Edo and D states. ‘Abia, Billy Osawaru and Osonwa Ibe, respectively.

Speaking on the importance of the bill titled “Motion on the Urgent Need for a National Baseline Survey on Fake Anti-Malaria Drugs in Nigeria”, Osawaru said the House is fully aware that in Nigeria, there is an agency responsible for regulating the production, importation and distribution of medicines, called the National Food and Drug Administration and Control Agency.

The All Progressives Congress member noted: “In June 2018, NAFDAC was informed of the circulation of certain fake varieties of anti-malaria drugs fraudulently imported from India. It is generally observed that counterfeit/fake malaria medicines are deliberately designed to look like branded medicines or may not contain any active ingredients or contain less than the required quantity of active ingredients or may even contain ingredients that are not those described on the packaging. label imported/manufactured, distributed/sold and ultimately used ignorantly by malaria patients without any curative effect.

The use of these fake medicines is crucial and leads to complications in treatment and ultimately increases the risk of death. Counterfeit medicines have been almost ignored or at least largely underestimated, but have now clearly emerged as one of the most crucial public health problems in Nigeria. Although significant efforts have been made by NAFDAC to combat this criminal trafficking, much remains to be done.

The lawmaker further highlighted that the House was concerned that according to a 2022 World Health Organization study, an estimated 116,000 people die every year in sub-Saharan Africa due to counterfeit anti-inflammatory drugs. malaria. The WHO World Malaria Report (2023) indicates that 22 people die from malaria every hour in Nigeria, which amounts to approximately 200,000 deaths per year.

“In other words, more than a quarter of all malaria deaths are linked to fraudulent medicines; hence the need for a proposed national baseline survey to collect information on the status of fake antimalarial drugs in order to determine the mode of approach, the level of effort needed and probably the resources needed to dismantle the development unfortunate for this crime against humanity.

According to him, the baseline survey is an important activity that needs to be carried out urgently, in order to determine the situations before and after the project’s fight against poor quality anti-malaria drugs in Nigeria.

The survey will provide the fight with useful information that will be used to determine the methodology to be adopted to reduce the number of deaths due to the use of fake malaria drugs in Nigeria.