Counterfeit medicines: people die every day

When a mother sees her child, suffering from malaria, she does not hurry to panic. Currently, the disease, which is the leading cause of child mortality around the world, is effectively treated. Symptoms of the disease are high temperature, vomiting, sweating and convulsions. The woman immediately buys the medicine at a local pharmacy. And then the irreparable happens: the unhappy mother sees how her child dies in her eyes. Unfortunately, the realities of the modern drug market are as follows: the global sales of counterfeit drugs are several billion dollars a year.

Severe statistics

In Africa alone, counterfeit antimalarial medicines annually kill more than 120,000 people. If we consider the general statistics, we find an even more depressing picture. Many counterfeit drugs do not contain active ingredients that can effectively resist the disease. In fact, it's pills-pacifiers. However, sick people sincerely hope that this will save their lives.

The World Health Organization warns that low-quality goods exist in the drug market. This is the case when the manufacturer does not exactly verify the dosage of the active ingredient. In some cases, careless attitude toward production also provokes the death of people, of course, not directly. Here is one simple example: due to the receipt of a poor-quality commodity, pathogenic microorganisms develop resistance to the drug. Thus, malaria or tuberculosis prevails in the battle with human life.

Fake tablets are openly sold in the street markets

If we talk about the ways of distributing fakes, then first of all, the grief-merchants put themselves under the street pharmacy points, which attract representatives of the poor at democratic prices. According to experts, in sub-Saharan Africa, about a third of antimalarial drugs that are on sale are falsified. However, the risk zone includes not only street tents. Counterfeit goods penetrate into pharmacies and clinics, and can also be realized online through a variety of unregulated sites.

Technological novelties aimed at consumer protection

Currently, several startups are trying to solve the problem with counterfeit medicines. So, for example, the nonprofit organization Sproxil offers a surprisingly simple solution. A special label with a closed field is placed on the drugs participating in the action. The buyer erases the protective layer and sees a special code that must be sent to the Sproxil database. After confirming the authenticity of the goods, its use will be possible.

There are other developments, for example, a special barcode, which can easily be scanned by calling the 24-hour support service of the specified organization. Thus, any person who wants to make sure of the authenticity of the medicinal product will be able to find out the information he is interested in regarding the purchased goods. To ensure that people are not too lazy to once again contact the call center, Sproxil has provided special incentives for its customers. More than 70 pharmaceutical companies have signed up for this service, including transnational corporations GlaxoSmitKline and Novartis. The scheme has been in operation since 2009, and to date about 28 million inspections have been carried out around the world.

This system will save thousands of lives

The head of the company Sproxil Ashifi Gogo reasonably believes that his company's system saves the lives of thousands of people. In addition, this security measure is simple and affordable. In the African countries, the scheme covers Tanzania, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana. More recently, the state of Mali has joined the project. The developers of the system believe that the countries of the so-called third world are the most vulnerable. In the near future, they plan to further develop their influence in the territories of the black continent.