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The purpose of this paper is to examine the perception and experience of counter pharmaceuticals in Nigeria compared to the European Union.

The findings from this paper are based upon a survey of 362 Nigerians sourced in public places with the data and then compared results from a survey by the European Union.

The key findings from this research showed some areas of similarity between Nigerians and Europeans on their views on the acceptability of purchasing counterfeits. However, Nigerians were more open to purchasing counterfeits despite the risks. There was also more anxiety over the risk of purchasing counterfeit medicines compared to the European Union.

Due to security issues, survey data could only be sourced from Abuja, Lagos and the relatively peaceful southwestern region of Nigeria. The data is, therefore, not representative of Nigeria.

The purchasing experience of counterfeit medicines by Nigerians along with their anxieties highlights the need for more enforcement action to tackle this problem and reassure the public.

The paper highlights the challenges of securing genuine pharmaceutical products in the Global South and the need for more greater cross-border action to tackle the problem.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first survey of Nigerian citizens on this issue.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents is on the increase in developing countries. Therefore, a cheap, accessible and simple screening tool such as the mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) is required for the prompt assessment. The purpose of this paper is to determine the usefulness of MUAC in assessing overnutrition in comparison with bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA).

Participants included 1,067 children aged 6–18 years recruited from private and public schools in Egor Local Government Area in Benin City, Nigeria. Body fat was estimated by BIA using a Tanita scale, whereas the MUAC was measured with a non-elastic tape. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to test the ability of MUAC to determine children and adolescents identified as overweight and obese by BIA.

The prevalence of overnutrition by MUAC (12.4 percent – overweight 6.0 percent and obesity 6.4 percent) was comparable to that by BIA (12.3 percent – overweight 5.4 percent, obesity 6.9 percent). There was a significant correlation between MUAC and body fat percentage, fat mass, fat mass index and fat-free mass index in both males and females (p=0.000).

This study, in contrast to most other studies on the use of MUAC in the assessment of overnutrition, has the advantage of using BIA cut-offs values against body mass index which does not assess body fat composition. BIA is, however, not the gold standard in the measurement of body fat composition. The optimal MUAC cut-off values of this study may not be representative of the entire country because of its restriction to Benin. Similar studies from different parts of Nigeria will be required to validate this smoothed MUAC percentiles for use in the screening of children and adolescents for overnutrition.

MUAC compares well with BIA in this study and can be a useful, alternative and practical screening tool for assessing obesity in the resource-poor setting.