A flood of counterfeit medications into the Nigerian market is causing great concern among the nation's regulatory authorities, according to a British Medical Journal report. Many fakes may contain a small amount of the active ingredient but not enough to make them therapeutically useful. Under-strength antibiotics represent a significant public health problem, as the inadvertent administration of them can lead to bacterial resistance.

Up to 70 percent of pharmaceuticals in Nigeria may be fraudulent. Some are thought to emanate from India, China, Pakistan, Egypt, and Indonesia; others are manufactured locally. The Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control plans to inspect factories that export products to Nigeria to ensure they have World Health Organization certification and will send analysts to check drugs before they are shipped.