Oluwatosin Adeshokan , Christine Ro , freelance journalists Lagos christineannro{at}gmail.comCounterfeit and substandard medicines are not unusual in Africa. The counterfeiters place the medicines in new packages labelled in English, with Nigerian registration numbers and false manufacturing dates. “What we [really] struggle with is adulteration of products,” says Nelly Okpako, a pharmacist in Lagos. These are not deliberately falsified products but are substandard medicines with substantially different quantities of the active ingredients than advertised.1Overall, there’s a consensus that in Nigeria the fake medicine problem is far less severe than it was. Data are patchy, but one estimate is that in 2001 substandard and falsified medicines made up at least two thirds of medicines in Nigeria.2 These were largely basic, quick selling medicines such as antibiotics and antimalarials.

Source: The Guardian May 12, 2023 15:47 UTC