Abuja, Nigeria The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control is extending its regulatory framework to blood and blood products, aligning Nigeria with World Health Organization recommendations that classify them as essential medicines, the agency said in remarks reported on 13 August.
Director-General Mojisola Adeyeye said blood and blood products “are classified as essential medicines and must be consistently available with assured quality, safety and affordability.” Seven African countries, including Egypt, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Senegal and Rwanda, have already placed blood products under national regulatory oversight.
NAFDAC pointed to its WHO Maturity Level 3 status and the WHO prequalification of its drug quality control laboratory as the platform for the expansion. Its Vaccines, Biologicals and Medical Devices unit became a full directorate in 2024, and an upgraded laboratory for vaccine and biologics assessment is under development.
Why it matters: Regulating blood products closes one of the last unsupervised gaps in Nigeria’s essential medicines chain, with direct consequences for surgery and maternal care.
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