OPENING REMARKS BY THE DIRECTOR GENERAL (NAFDAC) DURING THE STAKEHOLDERS’ ENGAGEMENT WITH THE PHARMA SUPPLY CHAIN STAKEHOLDERS FOR INPUT ON THE NATIONAL STRATEGIC DOCUMENT ON SUBSTANDARD AND FALSIFIED PRODUCTS HELD AT NAFDAC AUDITORIUM, NAFDAC OFFICE COMPLEX, ISOLO, LAGOS ON FEBRUARY 1ST 2024.
I am delighted to welcome you to this very important gathering to explore how to combat the sale and distribution of Substandard and Falsified Medical Products within the supply chain. This engagement with Pharma Supply Chain Stakeholders in Nigeria serves as a means of thinking together and putting in place a position that will represent or guide our collective efforts and strategy to prevent, detect, and respond to substandard and falsified medicinal products. The goal here is to ensure that medical products in circulation are of the quality standard required and safe for public use.
The high prevalence of SF in Africa is a major threat to public health, this is because regulation in the region is limited with about 10% of African NRAs having achieved ML3.
This allows for poorly regulated manufacturers to supply their products in Africa where technologies to detect SF and track/trace are limited. The menace of substandard and falsified medical products threatens access to safe, efficacious, and affordable medicines, undermining health systems and the achievement of Universal Health Coverage globally.
NAFDAC has the mandate to regulate and control the manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale, and use of drugs, cosmetics, chemicals, detergents, medical devices, and packaged water generally referred to as Regulated Products. This mandate puts a burden on the Agency to lead the fight against SF medical products in Nigeria and support efforts that will see a reduction in the prevalence of SF medical products both locally manufactured and imported.
NAFDAC currently is doing its best to fight this issue of Substandard and Falsified products. The fight against Substandard/Falsified medical products is based on three broad thematic areas Prevent, Detect, and Respond (PDR). The Pharmaceutical Supply chain plays a vital role in ensuring that safe, quality, and efficacious medicines reach the end users. Therefore, there is a need to foster complementary partnerships that will seek to identify lapses in the supply chain to curb the distribution of substandard and falsified medical products in Nigeria. I enjoin you to sustain your support to NAFDAC to ensure that only safe, efficacious, and quality medicines are used in Nigeria. NAFDAC, as the regulatory agency is seeking the support of all stakeholders in in the pharma industry and supply chain system to improve our chances of winning the war on SF medical products.
To this end, I would like to welcome you all to this important gathering. Please feel free to participate actively and contribute so that we can proffer solutions to the challenges identified to ensure the success of this major stakeholder engagement.
Thank you.
