“No tariff hike on anti-malaria drugs”, says Health Minister Isaac Adewole

Isaac Adewole, minister of health, says there is no tariff hike on the importation of anti-malaria drugs into the country.

Earlier, Nigerians on social media were circulating news of a hike in import duty for anti-malaria drugs, despite the country’s damning malaria statistics.

Responding to the claims after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, Adewole said he spoke with Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, on the  contentious issue. He dismissed the claims.

“I discussed with Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun on the issue of ‘tariff hike’ on antimalarial & antibacterial drugs at FEC today,”Adewole said.

“She said that there was nothing like that and President Buhari had not approved any new tariff whatsoever.

“I appreciate Nigerians for their feedback and concern. We should also hold conveyors of fake news to account. God bless the Federal Republic.”

According to the National Malaria Elimination Programme, the disease is responsible for 60 percent of outpatient visits to health facilities, 30 percent of childhood death, 25 percent of death in children under one year and 11 percent of maternal death.

“The financial loss due to malaria annually is estimated to be about by 132 billion Naira in form of treatment costs, prevention, loss of man-hours etc,” the programme posits.

Fake Anti-Malaria Drugs Reduced To 4% In Nigeria- NAFDAC

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has been scored high in its fight against counterfeit drugs as a nationwide survey of the quality of anti-malaria medicines in Nigeria revealed a drastic reduction of counterfeit anti-malaria drugs from 19.6% in 2012 to 3.6% in 2015.
The national survey on the quality of anti-malaria medicines which was conducted in six geo-political zones in the country was jointly undertaken by the National Malaria Elimination Programme of the Federal Ministry of Health and NAFDAC with the funding support of the United States Pharmacopeia and USAID.

Speaking on the development, the permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Mr Linus Awute, expressed delight over the feat, saying it is coming at a time the health sector has recorded a lot of successes and is now focusing on elimination of malaria in the country.

The permanent secretary, represented by the director, Public Health in the ministry, Dr Bridget Okoeguale, added that key among these successes is the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) certification of NAFDAC’s drug laboratory.

He said this was made possible with the generous support of the US government through Promoting the Quality of Medicines (PQM) programme implemented by the United States Pharmacopeia.

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