By Azoma Chikwe
Acting Director General of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Yetunde Oni, says there are no killer anti-malaria medicines in Nigeria.
In a media chat, Oni said Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs) are the current anti-malaria medicine used in malaria epidemic countries like Nigeria.She explained that there is need to douse the tension and correct the misinformation on the social and mainstream media that about 42 anti-malaria medicines purportedly banned by the European Union are allegedly circulating in the country.
“It is pertinent to mention that the allegedly banned anti-malaria medicines are oral mono therapies containing single Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), which includes artesunate as contained in Arinate Tablet, Amodiaquine as contained in Camoquine, Dihydroartemisnin contained in Alaxin tablets, “she said.
The Director General, however, stated that these antimalarial monotherapies are not recommended for treatment of malaria in Nigeria. “ The recommended antimalaria medicines for treatment of malaria in Nigeria are Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs).
«The Nigeria National Anti-Malaria Treatment Policy, February 2005 also supports the use of ACTs, Any anti-malaria drug that do not have the scratch and text techniques should not be in circulation.Every anti-malaria drug should have an authentication scratch and text techniques , it is the first line of checking the quality of the medicine.When you scratch and text, immediately an information comes back to give the status of that particular anti-malaria medicine, “she said.