Timeline Vodcast: Substandard and Falsified Medical Products (Fake Drugs)

The negative impacts of substandard and falsified medical products (fake drugs) is enormous. It is an illegal practice that exist worldwide and controlled by syndicates of criminal individuals and institutions that mask and operate underground.

Regulatory agencies of governments, international institutions, civil societies and other stakeholders are incessantly sensitizing the public on this menace and proffering solutions that will help eliminate the production and distribution of substandard and fake medical products which ultimately affect personal well-being and the institutional health systems.

The production and distribution of substandard and fake medical products is a crime. There are established laws prohibiting and making the practice a punishable offence.

According to WHO:

– Substandard and falsified medical products may cause harm to patients and fail to treat the diseases for which they were intended.

– They lead to loss of confidence in medicines, healthcare providers and health systems.

– They affect every region of the world.

– Anti-malarials and antibiotics are amongst the most commonly reported substandard and falsified medical products.

This week’s TIMELINE episode continues the conversation on the legal perspective and how to curb the widespread and distribution of substandard, fake and falsified medical products.

Watch the Timeline episode here. Join the conversation, respectively.