Our Mission
Behavioral and Educational Strategies for Avoiding Falsified Medicine Exposure (BESAFE) aims to combat the risks associated with substandard and falsified (SF) medications. Led by a team of public health practitioners at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the initiative is empowering individuals and communities with the essential knowledge, skills, and behavioral strategies necessary to identify and avoid SF medicines, thereby ensuring safe and effective use of pharmaceuticals and promoting public health and well-being. Through research, behavior change campaigns and advocacy, we are transforming drug safety in the United States and across the world.
The Challenge
The World Health Organization estimates that 10% of drugs globally are likely to be SF. The majority of SF medicines are purchased from online pharmacies. While a dire problem in low and middle income countries, they are an emerging threat in high income countries as well.
Up to 1% of medicines available in high-income countries and 10% of drugs globally are likely to be SF, according to the WHO.
SF pneumonia drugs cause an estimated 72,000 and 169,000 child deaths annually, and fake anti-malarial drugs cause an estimated 116,000 deaths annually, according to the WHO.
Worldwide sales of SF drugs increased from $3.5 billion per year in 2005 to an estimated $200 to $432 billion in recent years, according to the WHO.
Collaborations
BESAFE is forging collaborations between public health researchers, drug manufacturers, policymakers, and public health program implementers to eliminate the circulation of SF medicines.
The BESAFE team includes faculty in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Population, Family, and Health and the Department of International Health.
The work is supported with funding from Pfizer Inc.
Disclaimer
Pfizer Inc. is not responsible for the content of the BESAFE website.