Vice-Chair of IMPACT Speaks in Geneva
The World Health Assembly (WHA) held a drug counterfeiting session in Geneva, Switzerland, where Dr. Paul Orhii, vice-chair of the 193 member-nation International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force (IMPACT) based in Geneva rallied members to come to consensus and move forward to fight the drug safety problems caused by fake medication distribution.
Orhii, also Director-General of the Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), worried that international politics were obstructing patient safety concerns for countries hit by the infiltration of counterfeit medicine, reported BEN Television.
“I strongly feel that the WHO should provide a common platform for all member-nations to come together to combat the problem of drug counterfeiting. A situation where some countries are using semantics to confuse definitions of counterfeit drugs is most unfortunate because this is purely a public health issue that we need to speak with one voice. This is unacceptable because our people are suffering as a result of the dangerous effects of counterfeit drugs.”
More than 80% of the over 100 nations that attended the recent WHA meeting, he observed, support strong drug counterfeiting action.