2 in 10 Nigerians ‘personal’ victims of fake drugs

18 percent of respondents in a NOI Poll survey last week said they had “personally purchased or used fake drugs or medicine”, and another 13 percent knew someone who had done the same, the survey reported.Nearly 70 percent of those who believed they used fake or counterfeit drugs got their supply from an “independent pharmacy […]

18 percent of respondents in a NOI Poll survey last week said they had “personally purchased or used fake drugs or medicine”, and another 13 percent knew someone who had done the same, the survey reported.
Nearly 70 percent of those who believed they used fake or counterfeit drugs got their supply from an “independent pharmacy or chemist”, and another 14% bought theirs from drug hawkers.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has a mandate to clamp down on hawking of drugs and sanitising drug distribution system, which is seriously hampered by unfettered access on the open market.
Among those who believed they took fake drugs, 35 percent had no idea what they consumed was not the real thing until they felt “no improvement in health’ even after completing the dosage indicated.
Another 29 percent had an idea their drugs were fake because they brought on adverse reaction. 23 percent got suspicious because the drug packaging had been altered, 19 percent looked on expiry date on drug labelling.
Only 7 percent of users knew their drug was fake after a validation message on NAFDAC’s mobile authentication service returned a “wrong PIN” message.
In 3% of cases involving fake drug, death resulted.
Among them all, only one person among 100 either reported to NAFDAC or the police, and an equal proportion went ahead to use the drug.
33 percent of all who believed they had used fake drugs “did not take any action,” the survey found, and every five out of 100 Nigerians “did not know what action to take.”