The Effects Of Consumerism In Marketing Of Fake/counterfeit Drugs In Nigeria

This study was carried out on the effects of consumerism in marketing of fake/counterfeit drugs in Nigeria. To achieve this, five significant research objectives were formulated.  The survey design was adopted and the simple random sampling techniques were employed in this study. The population size comprise of staff of selected hospitals in Aba main park, Aba, Abia State. In determining the sample size, the researcher conveniently selected 70 respondents while 55 were received and 50 were validated. Self-constructed and validated questionnaire was used for data collection. The collected and validated questionnaires were analyzed using frequency tables and percentage, while the hypotheses were tested using Chi-square statistical tool. 

The result of the findings reveals that the level of consumer protection movement in Nigeria is low. Also the entrenching of consumer protection laws will encourage/increase the intensity of the consumer protection movement in Nigeria. And fake drug proliferation has a negative impact on consumers and economy at large. In regard to the findings, the study recommends that due to the complexity of the drug production and distribution system, there is no single technique that can eliminate the public health threat posed by fake pharmaceuticals.

As such, a layered strategy is fundamental, involving a wide array of inter-agency actors from within and outside the government; enhanced cooperation between international bodies and improved partnership with legitimate private supply chain to help reduce the prevalence of fake drugs in Nigeria. Immediate action would include: Increased awareness on the counterfeiting of drugs to the public; reduction in the importation of drugs and increased local production of drugs which would make drugs cheaper and readily available.