{"id":13008,"date":"2016-01-06T07:37:30","date_gmt":"2016-01-06T07:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/?p=13008"},"modified":"2016-11-28T16:26:17","modified_gmt":"2016-11-28T16:26:17","slug":"counterfeit-medicines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/counterfeit-medicines","title":{"rendered":"Counterfeit Medicines Are Deadly In Many African Countries"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"a6b39195b99473d6c9dd698db2668010\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:2px 0 2px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<center>\r\n\r\n<script type='text\/javascript'>\r\nfunction ShorterThan(widthMax) {\r\n                if (screen.width < widthMax) {return true;}  \r\n                else {return false}\r\n    }\r\nvar LimitWidth = 728\r\nvar MobileZoneID = 348996\r\nvar DesktopZoneID = 348995   \r\n<!--\/\/<![CDATA[\r\n   document.MAX_ct0 ='';\r\n   var m3_u = (location.protocol=='https:'?'https:\/\/cas.criteo.com\/delivery\/ajs.php?':'https:\/\/cas.criteo.com\/delivery\/ajs.php?');\r\n   var m3_r = Math.floor(Math.random()*99999999999);\r\n   document.write (\"<scr\"+\"ipt type='text\/javascript' src='\"+m3_u);\r\n   if (ShorterThan(LimitWidth)) {document.write (\"zoneid=\"+MobileZoneID);} else {document.write (\"zoneid=\"+DesktopZoneID);}\r\n   document.write(\"&nodis=1\");\r\n   document.write ('&cb=' + m3_r);\r\n   if (document.MAX_used != ',') document.write (\"&exclude=\" + document.MAX_used);\r\n   document.write (document.charset ? '&charset='+document.charset : (document.characterSet ? '&charset='+document.characterSet : ''));\r\n   document.write (\"&loc=\" + escape(window.location));\r\n   if (document.referrer) document.write (\"&referer=\" + escape(document.referrer));\r\n   if (document.context) document.write (\"&context=\" + escape(document.context));\r\n   if ((typeof(document.MAX_ct0) != 'undefined') && (document.MAX_ct0.substring(0,4) == 'http')) {\r\n       document.write (\"&ct0=\" + escape(document.MAX_ct0));\r\n   }\r\n   if (document.mmm_fo) document.write (\"&mmm_fo=1\");\r\n   document.write (\"'><\/scr\"+\"ipt>\");\r\n\/\/]]>--><\/script>\r\n<\/center>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every 45 seconds, a child dies of malaria. This disease can be treated with medicine; however, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fakedrugskill.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">a third of malaria drugs sold in Africa are fake<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The World Health Organization defines counterfeit medicine as \u201cone which is deliberately and fraudulently mislabelled with respect to identity and\/or source.\u201d The international trade of counterfeit drugs is a billion dollar industry that is flourishing in Africa &#8211; the fake drugs generally come from China and India. They take chalk or washing powder and shape them to mimic both branded and generic medicine. This issue is affecting countries like Tanzania, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has become harder to weed out the fake medicines; people have been able to reproduce holograms, print, and add ingredients that trick quality control tests. Not only do these medicines not treat the diseases they are advertised to, they come with their own consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Those in poverty are most affected<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Areas with low literacy rates and low incomes are the most vulnerable to the fake drug trade. There is little awareness of counterfeit drugs and ability to detect them. Plus, real medicine is expensive. A study conducted by the WHO and Health Action International found that:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c<strong>duties, taxes, mark-ups, distribution costs and dispensing fees are often high, regularly constituting between 30% to 40% of retail prices, but occasionally up to 80% or more of the total.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Poorer people will go for the cheaper option, unaware of how dangerous that is. All of these factors make them a key demographic in the global trade.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13009\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13009\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13009\" src=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/01\/fake_medicine_africa_afp.jpg\" alt=\"source\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/01\/fake_medicine_africa_afp.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/01\/fake_medicine_africa_afp-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/01\/fake_medicine_africa_afp-85x57.jpg 85w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13009\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commsmea.com\/pictures\/fake_medicine_AFRICA_AFP.jpg\">source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">{adinserter CNP5}<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>It is causing people to lose faith in modern medicine<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even though there has been a push to trust modern medicine in Africa, the counterfeits flooding the market have caused many to lose faith in it and turn back to their older ways. Misambwa, a traditional healer in Uganda, has seen an increase in his business. <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>\u00a0\u201cYou find people who have taken bad tablets, several different types of malaria tablets, for example, and all of them have been fake. So many people have come to me like that,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0He also reports fake and substandard drugs to the government. In Tanzania, where 1.4 million people are infected with HIV or AIDS, the fake drugs are causing people to lose faith in HIV treatment. Rodgers Stephan, an AIDS activist, said:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c<strong>It\u2019s a huge problem. \u00a0Even now it\u2019s a major challenge. People have stopped taking their drugs and they don\u2019t know what to do, who to trust or which place to go,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has become a major problem in our community.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13010\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13010\" style=\"width: 709px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-13010\" src=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/01\/27_1_counterfeit_drugs.jpg\" alt=\"source\" width=\"709\" height=\"451\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/01\/27_1_counterfeit_drugs.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/01\/27_1_counterfeit_drugs-85x54.jpg 85w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13010\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/africarenewal\/sites\/www.un.org.africarenewal\/files\/27_1_counterfeit_drugs.jpg\">source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>The criminals are charged too lightly<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Many believe\u00a0that the producers and distributors of these fake drugs are charged too lightly. In 2009, Interpol and the WHO funded group International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce carried out a raid in Uganda; they discovered five tons of counterfeit drugs in the central and eastern areas of the nation. But, Fred Kiyaga &#8211; the head of Interpol Uganda at that time &#8211; reported that only five people were convicted and each was fined $520. Pierre Ambroise-Thomas, a WHO expert on malaria and tropical parasitic diseases, wrote in the Mediterranean Journal of Haematology and Infectious Diseases that:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>\u201cCounterfeiting is more than a criminal act. \u00a0Manslaughter is perfectly justified to describe such an act although some prefer calling it simply murder.\u201d \u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13011\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13011\" style=\"width: 713px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-13011\" src=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/01\/4cb71eeadd4d2b75738785f6d2e365fbf630511b.jpg\" alt=\"source\" width=\"713\" height=\"402\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/01\/4cb71eeadd4d2b75738785f6d2e365fbf630511b.jpg 669w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/01\/4cb71eeadd4d2b75738785f6d2e365fbf630511b-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/01\/4cb71eeadd4d2b75738785f6d2e365fbf630511b-85x48.jpg 85w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13011\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/l2.yimg.com\/bt\/api\/res\/1.2\/uScK9z9J5n_6zonNHc2Z2A--\/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3NfbGVnbztmaT1maWxsO2g9Mzc3O2lsPXBsYW5lO3B4b2ZmPTUwO3B5b2ZmPTA7cT03NTt3PTY3MA--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en_us\/News\/afp.com\/4cb71eeadd4d2b75738785f6d2e365fbf630511b.jpg\">source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/skin-bleaching\">SEE ALSO:\u00a0Skin Bleaching Is A Big Problem In Many African Countries.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every 45 seconds, a child dies of malaria. This disease can be treated with medicine;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":13009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,110],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Counterfeit Medicines Are Deadly In Many African Countries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A third of malaria drugs sold in Africa are fake.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/counterfeit-medicines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Counterfeit Medicines Are Deadly In Many African Countries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A 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