France’s Macron, African leaders push for vaccines for Africa after COVID-19 exposed inequalities
Associated PressJUN 13 2024
A recent study in Africa, found that nearly 20% of medications on the continent may be substandard or fake.
Researchers from Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia reviewed 27 studies, and found that out of 7,508 medicine samples, 1,639 failed quality tests, which indicates that the medications were substandard or falsified.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, subpar and falsified medicines cause up to 500,000 deaths annually in sub-Saharan Africa. The WHO has identified antibiotics and anti-malarial drugs as the most commonly falsified medications.
While the findings of this study are worrying, people should avoid from making sweeping generalizations based on this alone. There are some possible biases in the research methods including non-random sampling and unpublished surveys that found no issues, as well as a lack of studies in general about substandard medication apart from Asia and Africa. Additionally, the prevalence of false and subpar medication fluctuates across time, countries, and type of medication.