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February 24, 2011 By Malaria.com Leave a Comment

Five Things You Might Not Know About Medicine Quality

The proliferation of poor quality medicines has been described as a global pandemic that threatens the lives of millions.¹It stands to reason that poor quality medicines are not going to improve anyone’s health, but how much do we really know about the quality of medicines used across the world? Here we examine five issues relating to medicine quality in an effort to show why we should all be paying more attention to a serious public health issue that is difficult to tackle and not yet fully understood.

How Can We Detect Poor Quality Medicines?

Finding out what medicines contain and investigating their packaging are vital steps in the fight against poor quality medicines, both substandard and falsified. Falsified medicines usually masquerade as real medicines by copying the appearance and packaging of the real product, but may not contain any of the same active ingredients, or in the correct amounts.

Challenges in Tackling the Issue of Poor Quality Medicines

There are many unresolved issues that impede the elimination of poor quality medicines, namely: (1) Progress impeded by confusion over definitions; Ensuring a market free of poor quality medicines; and the lack of global criminal laws.

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