It gives me a great pleasure to write the Foreword for this Fourth Revision of the National Essential Drugs List. This revised edition is the product of the hard work of the National Drug Formulary/Essential Drugs Review Committee, which was inaugurated in September 1999. The establishment of the Committee is in compliance with the Decree 43 of 1989 later amended by Decree 13 of 1992. I commend the doggedness and perseverance of the Chairman and members of the Committee in producing this document in spite of constraints of facilities and funding. I also commend the Country Office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) for contributing technically and financially towards the conclusion of this work. I am particularly thankful to WHO for undertaking to print of 50,000 copies of the EDL. This will ensure its wide circulation.
As I have declared at every available opportunity, the intensification of the war against fake drugs is one of the five-action health agenda of the Obasanjo administration whose first term will expire in a few months from now. Nigerians are the best judges to assess whether we have kept faith on this agenda. The widespread acclaim of the activities of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) under its current management team is sufficient proof that we have matched our word with positive action in this regard. While the war is yet to be totally won, we are definitely on the right course to winning it.
The adoption of an Essential Drugs List is a key strategy for achieving one of the goals of the National Drug Policy which is to make available at all times, in adequate dosage forms, drugs that satisfy the health care needs of the majority of the population at all levels of the health care delivery system. The adoption of the list of essential drugs is also a factor in the promotion of rational use of drugs, another key element of our Drug Policy. All these accord with the cardinal health agenda of this administration of eradicating fake drugs from our health care system. This is because with the adoption of a limited drugs list, the administration, regulation and control of drugs can be done more effectively and efficiently.
As revealed by a recent survey, the circulation of the Essential Drugs List has not been as wide as it should be, particularly at the primary health care level. This shall no longer be so with this revised edition. My Ministry will ensure that the document is circulated as widely as possible to all the three tiers of our health care delivery system. I however wish to advise all Chief Executives of our tertiary hospitals, state ministries of Health as well as local Government health departments that only drugs on the EDL are procured, stored and used in their respective health institutions in compliance with the enabling law. My Ministry will monitor compliance strictly.
In conclusion, I commend this important document to all stakeholders in the health sector: health care professionals and those who train them in our institutions of higher learning, professional associations/societies, drug manufacturers as well as Non-governmental organisations working in health.
Professor A.B. C. Nwosu,
Honourable Minister of Health.
3rd April 2003
