What are the health needs and challenges?

The negative impacts of fake medicines are widespread and the environment in which the manufacture, transportation, distribution, and consumption of these maliciously manufactured products take place is complex. Falsifying medicines is a public health threat and a crime against patients. Though it is a challenge to measure the scope of these dangerous products, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that one in ten medical products circulating in low- and middle-income countries is either substandard or falsified.

The majority of substandard and falsified medicines (42%) stem from sub-Saharan Africa, followed by 21% from the Americas and 21% from the European region. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Given patchy reporting, it is highly likely that these figures represent just a small proportion of the problem.

Fake medicines may contain the wrong ingredients, the wrong dose, or no active ingredients at all; they can be long-standing or new medicines, over-the-counter or prescription, branded or generic. In some cases, they contain dangerous substances and poisons including mercury, antifreeze, paint and rat poison. Estimates show that 72 000 to 169 000 children may die each year from pneumonia due to substandard and falsified antibiotics.

Partnership activities and how they address needs and challenges

In response to this challenge, Fight the Fakes was set up to protect both patients (and the public in general) and health systems from fake medicines by giving a voice to people impacted by these dangerous products. This will happen through creating a movement of like-minded organizations and individuals and promoting opportunities for actions against fake medicines. As part of this campaign members are creating a website to foster alignment, and to facilitate the development and distribution of information and digital tools to disseminate key stories and information about the danger and impact of fake medicines.

Addressing this complicated public health threat requires coordinated actions and leadership by all relevant actors. Through partner relationships with other organizations currently combating fake medicines around the world, members will work to exchange knowledge and insights and align activities in order to increase the effectiveness of this global campaign.