UNDOC report on counterfeit medicines in Africa
Angie Drakulich blogged yesterday about a new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which highlights that West Africa has “increasingly become the target of a range of counterfeit medications, including antibiotics, antiretroviral drugs and medicines to fight malaria and tuberculosis.”
The high demand for these types of drugs in West Africa and some other developing nations is the primary reason behind the significant increase in drug counterfeiting. West Africa has the highest estimated rate of malaria incidence on the African continent (98 million cases per year), according to a UNODC release. Nearly 60% of anti-infective medicines tested in Asia and Africa have been found to contain “insufficient amounts of active ingredients,” which can potentially promote the development of drug-resistant strains that can spread beyond those regions, says the release.
Because consumers have virtually no purchasing power or political voice, and counterfeit detection methods are extremely low in these regions, says the UNODC release, the environment is a counterfeiter’s dream. Revenues gained from 45 million counterfeit antimalarial medicines totaled $438 million in 2005, according to the UNODC report, and in 2010, that number is expected to rise to $75 billion.
Read the rest of this article on counterfeit medicines.
