Stakeholders launch mobile app to track fake antibiotics, boost access to genuine drugs
Stakeholders in Nigeria’s health sector have launched a mobile application aimed at curbing the circulation of fake antibiotics and improving access to genuine medicines in underserved communities. The application, Community
Stakeholders in Nigeria's health sector have launched a mobile application aimed at curbing the circulation of fake antibiotics and improving access to genuine medicines in underserved communities.
The application, Community Access to Effective Antibiotics (COM-WATCH), was unveiled in Abuja as part of ongoing efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance and strengthen monitoring of antibiotic use across the country.
The initiative is being implemented by Jhpiego in partnership with eHealth Africa, with support from regulatory agencies including the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Speaking at the launch, Project Director of COM-WATCH, Yemisi Ogundare, described antibiotic resistance as a growing global public health threat that continues to weaken treatment outcomes and complicate disease management.
Ogundare said antimicrobial resistance now accounts for more than 40 per cent of the global disease burden, stressing the urgent need for innovative tools to curb the misuse of antibiotics and detect counterfeit medicines.
“Today is a remarkable day for us because we are launching the Community Access to Effective Antibiotics Project. Antibiotic resistance continues to be a major public health challenge not only in Nigeria but across the world,” she said.
She explained that the COM-WATCH project was conceived after Jhpiego and eHealth Africa secured a competitive international grant funded by the Trinity Challenge in the United Kingdom.
According to Ogundare, the grant process attracted more than 200 applications from over 50 countries before Nigeria emerged among the winners.
“Last year, we applied for a grant funded by Trinity Challenge UK. Over 200 applications came from more than 50 countries, and Nigeria won,” she said.
She explained that the newly developed mobile platform enables community members to verify the authenticity of antibiotics before use while also providing a system for monitoring medicine supply at the grassroots level.
“The aim is to get communities to tell us how they are accessing antibiotics and what antibiotics they are using. We developed an application called COM-WATCH,” she said.
“The tool allows the mother in the village, the agro-vet farmer and others to confirm whether the antibiotics they have are safe before use.”
Ogundare added that the platform also serves as an inventory management tool for patent medicine vendors, agro-vet operators, community pharmacists and frontline health workers.
Through the system, users can receive alerts when medicines are close to expiry, while regulators can be notified of potential quality concerns involving drugs circulating in local markets.
She further explained that the Android-based application deploys artificial intelligence and machine learning to verify medicines by comparing images uploaded by users with entries in the NAFDAC Greenbook database.
“When you upload a picture of a drug on the app, it checks it against the NAFDAC Greenbook and confirms whether the medicine is verified or not,” she said.
Beyond individual verification, Ogundare noted that the platform will also generate real-time data that could help authorities track antibiotic distribution chains, identify medicines nearing expiry and detect counterfeit drugs in circulation.
“This will help agencies such as NAFDAC and the NCDC take informed regulatory actions,” she added.
Also speaking at the launch, Deputy Director of Partnerships and Programmes at eHealth Africa, David Akpan, described the project as a digital response to the growing threat posed by antimicrobial resistance.
“This particular project responds to one of the major public health challenges around antimicrobial resistance,” he said.
Akpan noted that the technology platform was jointly designed by eHealth Africa and Jhpiego under the Trinity Challenge programme.
“We worked together with Jhpiego to design a technology solution funded by the Trinity Challenge, and the solution is COM-WATCH,” he said.
According to him, the application will enable community pharmacies, patent medicine vendors and agro-veterinary outlets to manage their antibiotic stock more efficiently while verifying the authenticity of medicines.
He added that antibiotics scanned through the system would be validated using information from the NAFDAC Greenbook, while the data generated would offer regulators valuable insights for shaping national policies on antibiotic distribution and use.
