Solution for the Substandard and Counterfeit Medicines

Substandard and counterfeit medicines threaten people’s health in everywhere. With the complexity of the supply chains and globalization this problem will only increase unless there is a system to solve it.

Our mission is to prevent the manufacture and sale of the counterfeit and substandard medicines, implement a system to detect any such product that is the supply chain already and respond quickly to any incidents to make sure the patients are safe and the supply chain is clean. Also this will provide justice for the people responsible.

These action is only effective if the several government institutions, public and private sector organizations work together. For example; health authorities should work with the customs and law enforcement, pharmaceutical companies must share information with the authorities.

WHO contributes these actions in many ways such as Safety and Vigilance Unit and Essential Medicine and Health Product Department. These departments aim to provide access to safe and quality medicines everywhere in the world by supporting the regulatory changes and improving technical capability.

One of the solutions is to use track and trace systems to provide clean and well regulated supply chains. With these systems government can share incident reports with WHO which can analyze the reports and provide different solutions to the problem at hand.

With these reports and evidence WHO Global Surveillance and Monitoring System aims to minimize the risk to the public health posed by substandard and counterfeit medicines. To actualize this objective WHO trains regional and national agencies in countries which are members of WHO, develop systems, investigate and response to incidents in the fastest and the most effective way. WHO also developed a global database of the reports that relates to the substandard and counterfeit medicine incidents. With this database they can make evidence-based recommendations for decision makers.

*Global Surveillance and Monitoring System for Substandard and Falsified Medical Products, WHO