Lagos, Jan. 30, 2023 – The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) will check menace of substandard and falsified medicines in the country through effective implementation of pharmaceutical traceability strategy.
Its Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said this at the just concluded traceability workshop in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The workshop, which was organised by NAFDAC, was aimed at finalising the draft regulations on traceability of pharmaceutical products in the country.
A statement issued by NAFDAC Resident Media Consultant in Lagos on Sunday, quoted Adeyeye as saying that the onerous task of safeguarding the health of the nation was daunting in the face of the chaotic drug distribution system in Nigeria.
She said that the falsification and diversion of health commodities carried very serious health and economic consequences.
The NAFDAC boss said that the consideration of these consequences vis-à-vis the mandate of the Agency to regulate and control, among other things, the distribution of drugs and other regulated products was sufficient motivation to implement pharmaceutical traceability to complement the fight against the menace of substandard and falsified medicines as well as improve the regulatory control of medicines supply chain in Nigeria.
She also said that NAFDAC was committed to the implementation of pharmaceutical traceability in Nigeria as part of the regulatory strengthening and underscoring of its mandate.
Adeyeye said that NAFDAC had developed a five-Year traceability Implementation plan in line with the objectives of the Nigeria Pharmaceutical Traceability Strategy to achieve supply chain visibility and strengthen interventions against the scourge of substandard and falsified medicines by the end of her second term.
She said that the development, gazetting and dissemination of traceability of pharmaceutical products regulations was essential for the adoption and enforcement of the provisions of the Nigeria Pharmaceutical Traceability Strategy.
Adeyeye said that the regulation, accompanied by guidelines, could fight the menace of substandard and falsified medicines and improve the regulatory control of the medicines supply chain in Nigeria.
She said that the regulation, accompanied by guidelines and compliance requirements would provide a legal framework to support advocacy for all stakeholders to implement traceability in distribution of pharmaceuticals or supply chain.
Adeyeye said that the participation of relevant stakeholders during the drafting of the traceability regulation was important to ensuring that there would be understanding among stakeholders of the provisions of the regulation and to welcome feedback with the goal of improving compliance.
“A major achievement in the direction of reducing the incidence of substandard and falsified medicines in the country was the hosting of the second Africa GSI Traceability Conference on Healthcare in Lagos in September 2019.
“The Conference attracted medicines regulatory agencies from about twenty-five countries in Africa, as well as other stakeholder partners from the Americas and Europe.
“The Agency is already on a five-year roadmap to establishing a culture of Track & Trace with regards to pharmaceutical products,” she said. (GBN)
