Fifth of medicines in Africa could be substandard or fake

More than a fifth of medicines in Africa could be substandard or fake and could be contributing to countless deaths, a research review has found.

- Tharanika Ahillan

Researchers from Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia analysed 27 studies and found that, of 7,508 medicine samples, 1,639 failed at least one quality test and were confirmed to be substandard or falsified.

Claudia Martínez, the head of research at the Access to Medicine Foundation, an Amsterdam nonprofit, said: "If patients are getting medicines that are substandard or outright fake, it can result in their treatment failing or even preventable deaths."

Estimates published last year by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime put the human cost of falsified and substandard medicines at up to 500,000 deaths a year in sub-Saharan Africa.

"Substandard medicines" refer to those that are authorised but do not meet quality standards, whereas "falsified medicines" deliberately misrepresent their identity, composition or source.

A World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson said antibiotics and antimalarial products were the most commonly falsified medicines in Africa.