“How can you tell the difference between real and fake medicines?”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) up to two billion people worldwide lack access to necessary medicines, vaccines, medical and other health products. This, unfortunately, creates a vacuum that is too often filled by substandard and falsified (SF) medicinal products. SF medicinal products (also known as fake medicines) are likely to cause harm to patients as well as fail to treat the disease for which they are intended. The WHO sees the issue of fake medicines as an urgent health challenge for the next decade given that more than one in ten medicines in low- and middle-income countries are estimated to be substandard or falsified. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the dangers posed by the global trade in SF pharmaceutical products.

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Dr Bahijja Raimi-Abraham (pharmacist, Lecturer in Pharmaceutics and Founder of King’s College London Fight the Fakes) was invited to work with BBC News Africa on their campaign raising awareness on the impact of fake medicines in Africa (see also “Why are fake medicines a problem in Africa?” and “The teenage entrepreneurs detecting fake medicines in Nigeria” - BBC What’s New).

 

The piece “How can you tell the difference between real and fake medicines? shows Dr Bahijja Raimi-Abrarham taking a look at some real and fake anti-malarial drugs that were purchased in Nigeria whilst giving general tips on how to spot fake medicines. PhD Researcher Tamara Akpobolokemi was featured in the "Who are the victims of Africa's fake medicine crisis?". The series was produced by Hannah Gelbart (BBC).