Ghanaian men turn to viagra

Around 22,000 pieces of viagra are expected to be consumed in the country this year as compared to some 16,000 pieces last year, Mr Divine Akaba, Medical Representative of Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company and producers of viagra, said on Tuesday.

Mr Akaba, talking to the GNA in Accra on the performance of the drug on the Ghanaian market, said the 16,000 pieces sold last year might indicate that some 2,000 men bought the drug.

Viagra, the first orally effective medication for the treatment erectile dysfunction in men, was introduced in the country in 1999, and is supplied as a blue, rounded-diamond shaped tablets in a pack of four.

Erectile dysfunction, previously known as impotence, is associated with the inability to have or maintain an erection for satisfactory sexual relation. It is not life threatening and affects over a hundred million men worldwide.

When it is severe, it may have a very significant impact on a man's self-image. Mr Akaba said viagra, a prescription only drug, acts to increase and maintain erection by promoting smooth muscle relaxation and increased blood flow to the male organ.

The drug has been variously described as a "tablet that brings back the joy of relationships". However, Mr Akaba said viagra was not a "joy drug" but rather was meant to treat a medical condition and erectile problems.

Some medical sources have indicated that cases of erectile dysfunction were on the increase in Ghana. There has been a recent increase of advertisements of various shades of alcoholic beverages described as "bitters" for the cure of impotence and improvement of virility and sexual potency in men.

According to Mr Akaba, risk factors that make people prone to sexual dysfunction include psychological conditions, such as anxiety, stress or depression and lifestyles including cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and drug use. He also explained that diabetic and hypertensive patients were also known to be at risk to the condition.

Mr Akaba expressed concern over the increasing number of adverts on aphrodisiacs (substance for arousing sexual desire) in the media. According to him, some of these aphrodisiacs do not deal with the actual medical condition in men, which may be an ejaculatory, orgasm or libido problem.

Mr Akaba urged the regulatory bodies, especially, the Food and Drugs Board to monitor the influx all sorts of aphrodisiacs on the market. When viagra made its appearance a few years ago in the United States, it was prescribed at a rate of at least 10,000 scripts a day, outpacing such famous "quick starters" as the antidepressant Prozac, which was one of the biggest selling drugs in the US.

Men, both genuinely dysfunctional and merely dissatisfied, besieged the offices of urologists and sex clinics in the US when viagra appeared on the scene. Researchers in the US have, meanwhile, recommended to the American Urological Association, that patients with impotence should benefit from heart examination.

According to studies conducted by them, impotence in men can be the first sign of diabetes, kidney failure or neurological diseases and it was important that men underwent a thorough health examination rather than simply taking medications such as viagra to treat impotency.

Statistics show that about half of men between the ages of 40 and 70 in the US suffer from some degree of impotence.