205 Views Posted on 12-Nov-2010 under Health

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) study on the content and dissolution of anti-malarial and anti-tuberculosis drugs in West Africa, revealed an alarming rate of failure.
"Anti-malarial and anti-tuberculosis products from Nigeria recorded the highest failure rate of over 70 per cent; Ghana over 60 per cent; Cameroon over 50 per cent; Kenya and Tanzania had relatively low failure rates whilst Ethiopia had all it products passing the tests.
"It confirms that the West African sub-region really has a big problem with regard to anti-malarial drugs," Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah who is a member of WHO Expert Committee on Quality Assurance of Medicines disclosed this at a public lecture in Accra.
The Public Lecture on the theme: "The Threat of Counterfeit and Substandard Drugs to Healthcare Delivery in Developing Countries," was organised by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Prof Addae-Mensah a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana said the study revealed the lowest failure rate of Artemether lumefantrine while amodiaquine artesunate recorded the highest failure rate.
He said failure rate among products manufactured by companies pre-qualified by WHO were low while failure rate among non-prequalified products was very high.