An Evaluation of Public Opinion on Quality of Pharmaceutical Products Marketed in Anambra State, Nigeria.

Abstract INTRODUCTION Pharmaceutical products are subject to rigorous quality assurance checks in order to ensure that drug products are of required quality, are safe and have good efficacy. However, the emergence of substandard drug products have largely impacted both the health and perception of the public towards drug use. This work aims to identify those trends in public opinion among both prescribers and end-users within Anambra State, Nigeria. METHOD This was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out in 2019. Data collection was quantitative using a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire to four hundred participants, comprising of medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists and end-users. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 16. Statistical significance was set at 5 percent (p<0.05). Ethical approval was obtained from Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Ethics and Advisory Committee RESULTS Majority (57.9 %) of the respondents think that the drugs marketed in Anambra state are somewhat effective. About a quarter (23.5 %) of the respondents had no idea of what to look out for when checking substandard drugs. About two-third (65.4 %) of our participants had used substandard drugs at least once in the past two years, out of which 51.1 % of them chose to discard the drugs whenever in their possession, 32.3 % of them returns the drugs to the outlets from where they were purchased, while only 16.5 % reports the drugs to the regulatory authority. 42.1 % of the medical doctors and nurses had no knowledge about the storage conditions of magnesium sulphate injection and 57.1 % of them affirmed that there was no available means of documenting ineffective or substandard drugs in their facilities. CONCLUSION This study brings to light the possible contributions of poor-quality medicines. A high percentage of the respondents had no idea of what to look out for while checking for substandard medicinal product. More campaigns against fake/ substandard drugs should be carried out at intervals.