Significance
The WHO estimates that up to 1% of medicines available in high-income countries and 10% of drugs globally are likely to be counterfeit.
Join us on November 12-13 for the 2024 Symposium on Public Health Strategies for Combating Substandard and Falsified Drugs
The 2024 Symposium on Public Health Strategies for Combating Substandard and Falsified (SF) Drugs will be held at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, DC. Hosted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the event will bring together global leaders, policymakers, and experts to address the critical issue of substandard and falsified drugs affecting public health worldwide.
How to check for counterfeit medicines?
Checking for counterfeit medicines requires a combination of vigilance, careful inspection, and verification. Here are steps you can take to check for counterfeit medicines: Read More
How to avoid counterfeit medicines?
Public health responses to counterfeit drugs
Although the adverse health impact of counterfeit and falsified medicines is catastrophic, it is difficult to measure the overall public…
Counterfeit drugs are pervasive health threats to the global population.
Counterfeit drugs adversely affect health in multiple ways. These drugs are ineffective due to insufficient or no active ingredients, and…
Significance
Note that at the Seventieth World Health Assembly in 2017, the WHO adopted the term “Substandard and Falsified (SF) medical…
How to report counterfeit medicines?
Reporting counterfeit medicines is important to protect public health and prevent the spread of harmful and ineffective products. Here’s how…
How to check for counterfeit medicines?
Checking for counterfeit medicines requires a combination of vigilance, careful inspection, and verification. Here are steps you can take to…
How to avoid counterfeit medicines?
Avoiding counterfeit medicines is crucial for your health and safety. Counterfeit drugs can be ineffective, harmful, or even life-threatening. Here…
Important resources
Up to two billion people around the world lack access to necessary medicines, vaccines, medical devices including in vitro diagnostics, and other health products, which creates a vacuum that is too often filled by substandard and falsified products. This problem is growing as global supply chains become more complex, meaning products manufactured in one country may be packaged in a second country and distributed across borders to be marketed or sold to consumers in a third.
Public health responses to counterfeit drugs
Although the adverse health impact of counterfeit and falsified medicines is catastrophic, it is difficult to measure the overall public health burden, the number of deaths and cases of complications, and economic loss due to counterfeit and illegal drugs. Read More
Stay Informed with the Latest News and Updates from Be Safe
Fake Drugs, Real Dangers
As counterfeit medications proliferate, researchers work to alert doctors and patients to the risks.
Symposium Executive Summary
A first of its kind Symposium on public health strategies for combating counterfeit drugs.
Symposium Report: 2023
The symposium, part of the BESAFE project, is supported with funding from Pfizer Inc.
No Country is Immune From The Threat of Counterfeit Drugs.
No country is immune; counterfeit drugs were found in every continent and almost every country, from Australia to Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria, to Panama. According to the 2020 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report the primary countries from which adulterated pharmaceuticals originate are considered to be China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and India. Read More