The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency has disclosed that over 70 percent of medical drugs being dispensed in Nigeria are substandard.
The NPHCDA made this disclosure in a statement shared on its website ahead of the Primary Healthcare Summit and captioned ‘Re-imaging Primary Health Care in Nigeria’.
The statement also outlined some of the challenges the country is facing in the healthcare sector.
It reads in part:
“The majority of Nigerians do not have access to health services; 20 per cent of all maternal deaths globally occur in Nigeria; infant mortality occurs at a rate of 19 deaths per 1,000 births; children under five are dying at a rate of 128 per 1,000; over 70 per cent of medical drugs dispensed in Nigeria are substandard.
“The weaknesses of the PHC system led to the under-utilisation of the PHC, resulting in significant burden within the health sector, with patients over-lying on tertiary and secondary health care services.
“Exorbitant health expenditures to access care place huge financial burdens on households and drive poverty.”
