Connect with us

Health

NAFDAC confiscates 100 truckloads of counterfeit drugs in Lagos, Abia, Anambra

Published

on

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control said it evacuated over 100 truckloads of substandard, falsified, and banned medicines and narcotics from Idumota market in Lagos State, Onitsha market in Abia state, and Aba market in Abia state, in six weeks.

This was disclosed in a press statement on Sunday signed by the Resident Consultant of the agency, Sayo Akintola.

The Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Moji Adeyeye, said if the substandard and banned medicines were allowed in circulation, they could ruin the nation by reducing the quality of life of millions of Nigerians.

Adeyeye made the remarks in Lagos on Friday at a briefing while giving an update on the unprecedented enforcement exercise carried out in the three markers where unregistered, banned, expired or medicines with other violations worth over a trillion naira were confiscated.

Advertisement

She further disclosed that the agency concluded the enforcement exercise in Idumota and Aba on February 28, 2025, while the exercise still lingered in Onitsha until March 8.

“What we have found could ruin a nation. What we have found could destabilise a government. What we have found could reduce quality of life of millions of Nigerians,” she said, adding that “If you have diabetes, hypertension, which need daily treatment, such people could die easily with what we have found.”

The NAFDAC boss stated that with a large population of Nigerian youth below 40, the narcotics seized could take their lives, fuel banditry, and terrorism.

“Overall, she said over 100 40-footer truckloads were evacuated with 27 truckloads from Idumota, already destroyed while in Aba and Onitsha markets about 80 40-foot truckloads of unregistered, banned medicines and narcotics were seized and evacuated.

Advertisement

“For Aba and environ, she disclosed that 14 truckloads of violative medicines were evacuated from the Osisioma warehouse alone, four truckloads from the Ariara Road warehouse and ten truckloads of the medicines were seized from the markets.

“According to her, in Onitsha, there are 110 lines where they sell drugs, aside from the plumbing market, and the wood plank markets. From the plumbing section, Prof Adeyeye explained that warehouses were filled to the brim, without windows, with temperature more than 40 degrees Celsius, subjecting the medicines to degradation before the user starts to use them.

In that plumbing section, we knew through intelligence, three or four years ago, that something was going on there, adding that we were there with our police, and our staff and police narrowly escaped death,” the statement noted.

Adeyeye explained that the merchants of death, masquerading as medicine dealers among the shop owners, mobbed the police and NAFDAC staff to protect their illicit trade.

Advertisement

She added that about seven months ago at the Onitsha market, NAFDAC staff went on intelligence, and they almost killed two of them.

“They bloodied them, bleeding. This is the hazard that we go through every time in NAFDAC,” she said.

She said the agency evacuated ten 40-foot truckloads of tramadol from the plumbing, wood plank and the fashion lines of the market, also noting with dismay that about four truckloads of syrup with codeine that was banned almost seven years ago were also evacuated.

She, however, emphasised that the agency needed to conduct the enforcement in the markets with the purpose of saving the lives of Nigerians and fostering trade.

Advertisement

“NAFDAC is doing this first for public health, secondly to foster trade, and thirdly to reduce the scourge on our country,” she added.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Health

SAD! Lassa Fever Claims 127 Lives Across 18 States in Nigeria(List)

Published

on

By

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has reported a sharp rise in Lassa fever cases, with 127 deaths confirmed across 18 states as of April 6, 2025.

According to the agency’s latest situation report, 674 people have tested positive for the virus out of 4,025 suspected cases recorded between January and early April.

The current Case Fatality Rate (CFR) stands at 18.8%, slightly higher than the 18.5% recorded during the same period in 2024, indicating a worrying upward trend.

The most affected states include Taraba (31 deaths), Ondo (26), Edo (17), Bauchi (12), and Ebonyi (11). Other states with reported fatalities are Gombe (7), Kogi (4), Benue (4), Nasarawa (4), Plateau (5), Kaduna (2), and one death each in Enugu, Delta, Cross River, and Ogun.

Advertisement

The report also highlights that 71% of confirmed cases were concentrated in Ondo (30%), Bauchi (25%), and Edo (16%), with the remaining 29% spread across 15 other states. The virus has now reached 93 local government areas nationwide.

Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic illness transmitted mainly through exposure to food or household items contaminated by infected rodents, particularly the multimammate rat. It can also spread through direct contact with the blood, urine, feces, or other bodily secretions of an infected person.

The disease predominantly affects people between the ages of 21 and 30, with a male-to-female ratio of 1:0.8, according to NCDC data.

In response to the outbreak, the NCDC has activated the National Lassa Fever Multi-Partner, Multi-sectoral Incident Management System to strengthen surveillance, case management, risk communication, and coordination efforts at all levels.

Advertisement

As the country continues to battle the spread of the virus, the NCDC is urging citizens to maintain proper hygiene, store food in rodent-proof containers, and seek immediate medical attention if symptoms such as fever, headache, sore throat, chest pain, or vomiting occur

Continue Reading

Health

FG identifies 1,277 persons for monitoring as Lassa fever kills 122

Published

on

By

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has listed 1,277 persons for follow-up over the possibility of being infected with Lassa fever. This follows the centre recording 659 confirmed cases out of 3,779 suspected cases and 122 deaths in 13 weeks (from January to March 30, 2025).

A report obtained from the NCDC on Friday indicated that no fewer than 18 states across the country have recorded Lassa fever cases, with Ondo, Bauchi, and Edo being the most affected.

The report partly reads, “Cumulatively, in week 13 of 2025, 122 deaths have been reported, with a Case Fatality Rate of 18.5%, which is lower than the CFR for the same period in 2024 (18.7%).

“In total for 2025, 18 states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 93 Local Government Areas. Seventy-one per cent of all confirmed Lassa fever cases were reported from these three states (Ondo, Bauchi, and Edo), while 29% were reported from 15 other states with confirmed Lassa fever cases. Of the 71% of confirmed cases, Ondo reported 30%, Bauchi 25%, and Edo 16%.

Advertisement

“The predominant age group affected is 21-30 years (Range: 1 to 94 years, Median Age: 30 years). The male-to-female ratio for confirmed cases is 1:0.8. The number of suspected cases increased compared to that reported for the same period in 2024. No new healthcare worker was affected in week 13. The National Lassa fever multi-partner, multi-sectoral Incident Management System (IMS) was activated to coordinate the response activities at all levels.”

The report shows that the contacts under follow-up number 1,277, while the contacts that have completed follow-up total 1,448.

According to the NCDC, the disease has affected 20 healthcare workers in eight states so far this year.

Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus. The natural reservoir for the virus is the multimammate rat (also known as the African rat), although other rodents can also act as carriers.

Advertisement

The public health institute stated that Lassa fever cases occur year-round, with peak transmission periods typically from October to May.

Continue Reading

Health

WHO calls for countries to address disruptions to TB services

Published

on

By

In the wake of massive cuts in US funding, the World Health Organization (WHO) today called on global health leaders, donors, and policymakers to protect and maintain tuberculosis (TB) care and support services around the world.

In a statement issued ahead of World Tuberculosis Day (March 24), the WHO said the “drastic and abrupt” cuts to global health funding threaten to reverse gains made in global efforts to combat TB, which remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease. Those efforts have saved an estimated 79 million lives worldwide since 2000, the organization said.

“The huge gains the world has made against TB over the past 20 years are now at risk as cuts to funding start to disrupt access to services for prevention, screening, and treatment for people with TB,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD. “But we cannot give up on the concrete commitments that world leaders made at the UN General Assembly just 18 months ago to accelerate work to end TB. WHO is committed to working with all donors, partners and affected countries to mitigate the impact of funding cuts and find innovative solutions.”

USAID cuts have crippled TB control efforts

Advertisement

While the statement does not specifically mention the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Trump administration’s freeze of USAID funding, and the subsequent canceling of thousands of contracts issued by the agency, have left a gaping hole in funding for TB prevention, screening, and treatment services. The US government has been the leading bilateral donor to global TB control efforts, contributing $200 million to $250 million annually—roughly one quarter of international donor funding for the disease.

The WHO said 27 countries are facing crippling breakdowns in their TB response, with the biggest impact seen in high-TB burden countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific. Among the services that have been disrupted are diagnosis, active case finding, screening, and contact tracing, and those disruptions are resulting in delayed detection and treatment and increased transmission risk. Drug supply chains, laboratory services, and data and surveillance systems have also been undermined.

A recent update from StopTB Partnership, which works on TB response with more than 2,000 partners in 100 countries, provides some detail on the services affected by the USAID funding cuts. In Cambodia, active case finding has halted in half the country, resulting in 100,000 people missing TB screening and 10,000 cases of drug-susceptible (DS)-TB going undetected. In Kenya, sputum sample transport once supported by USAID has halted, affecting the diagnosis of DS- and drug-resistant (DR)-TB. In India, USAID-funded TB screening projects in vulnerable groups have stopped.

The huge gains the world has made against TB over the past 20 years are now at risk as cuts to funding start to disrupt access to services for prevention, screening, and treatment for people with TB.

Advertisement

Those are just three of dozens of examples. In a news release today, StopTB Partnership Executive Director Lucica Ditiu, MD, echoed Tedros’s call for action.

“People with TB need us,” Ditiu said. “We have to remain strong, and we can never ever give up the fight. Through innovative, global and national efforts and standing together, we will be able to achieve these targets of ensuring TB prevention, treatment, and care are accessible to all.”

TB was responsible for an estimated 1.25 million deaths in 2023, according to the WHO’s most recent annual report. An estimated 8.2 million people were newly diagnosed with the disease—the most cases in a year recorded by the WHO since it began global TB monitoring in 1995. High-burden TB countries have only recently begun to recover from the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which the WHO estimates resulted in 700,000 excess TB deaths.

Cuts exacerbate funding shortfalls

Advertisement

As the WHO notes, the funding cuts come amid what was already a shortfall in funding for global TB control efforts. In 2023, $5.7 billion was available for TB prevention, diagnostic, and treatment services in low- and middle-income countries, but that’s only 26% of the 2027 target goal of $22 billion. TB research is receiving just one fifth of its 2022 target of $5 billion. Cuts to US funding are only going to exacerbate the problem.

In a joint statement issued earlier this week, Tedros and the Civil Society Task Force on Tuberculosis called on countries to take urgent action to prevent any disruption to TB services, ensure domestic resources to sustain equitable and essential TB care, and safeguard essential TB drugs, diagnostics, care, and social protection coverage for TB patients. They also urged the establishment of national partner platforms that would bring together public and private sectors, civil society, nongovernmental organizations, professional societies, and donors to maintain momentum against TB in affected countries.

“This urgent call is timely and underscores the necessity of swift, decisive action to sustain global TB progress and prevent setbacks that could cost lives,” said Tereza Kasaeva, PhD, director of WHO’s Global Programme on TB and Lung Health, in today’s WHO news release.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2024 Naija Blitz News