Abstract

FOOD AND DRUG REGULATION IN NIGERIA: EVALUATION OF ROLE AND OPINION OF HEALTHCARE WORKERS

Habila Dang Pam*, Ambrose O. Isa and Ebenezar Ahmadu

Abstract

The challenges with Substandard Spurious Falsely-Labelled Falsified Counterfeit Medical Products (SSFFCS) are Global which calls for intensification of regulation of foods and drugs. In Nigeria, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) needs to collaborate with agencies like the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) and others to realize its mandate. Healthcare Workers are significant stakeholders that must comprehend and identify their starring roles in regulatory affairs for the safety of patients and the public. 480 Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to healthcare providers; Pharmacists, Medical doctors, Nurses, Laboratory scientists and a few others in Plateau State, Nigeria. A total of 313 questionnaires were returned completed. 92% of respondents are aware of the policy that established NAFDAC, 70% believe that NAFDAC cooperates with other agencies to enable it function. 96.2% look out for NAFDAC registration/ listing number before using foods/ drugs. 82.1% believe that political pressure influences food and drug regulatory decisions in Nigeria, 77% affirm that the problems arising from food and drugs to have decreased within the past ten years, 49.2% think that adverts of drugs in the media is only sometimes observed. Only 28.4% have ever been involved in drug recall, only 25.6% have ever been involved in pharmacovigilance reporting, 35.8% will use a non NAFDAC registered orphan drug in the absence of the registered one. It was concluded that most Healthcare providers are not informed about their roles in regulation of foods and drug recalls, pharmacovigilance, alert information updating and need to be taught.

Keywords: Healthcare-workers, Regulatory affairs, Food and drugs.