This means that people are taking medicines that fail to treat or prevent disease. Not only is this a waste of money for individuals and health systems that purchase these products, but substandard or falsified medical products can cause serious illness or even death.

[contextly_sidebar id=”nqvH5KGcY7imBhQDe1VVFnt47xEWUnQT”]“Substandard and falsified medicines particularly affect the most vulnerable communities,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General said in a statement.

“Imagine a mother who gives up food or other basic needs to pay for her child’s treatment, unaware that the medicines are substandard or falsified, and then that treatment causes her child to die. This is unacceptable. Countries have agreed on measures at the global level – it is time to translate them into tangible action.”

Since 2013, WHO has received 1500 reports of cases of substandard or falsified products. Of these, antimalarials and antibiotics are the most commonly reported. Most of the reports (42%) come from the WHO African Region, 21 percent from the WHO Region of the Americas, and 21 percent from the WHO European Region.

This is likely just a small fraction of the total problem and many cases may be going unreported. For example, only 8 percent of reports of substandard or falsified products to WHO came from the WHO Western Pacific Region, 6 percent from the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, and just 2% from the WHO South-East Asia Region.

“Many of these products, like antibiotics, are vital for people’s survival and wellbeing”, says Dr Mariângela Simão, Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines, Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals at WHO.

“Substandard or falsified medicines not only have a tragic impact on individual patients and their families, but also are a threat to antimicrobial resistance, adding to the worrying trend of medicines losing their power to treat”.

Prior to 2013, there was no global reporting of this information. Since WHO established the Global Surveillance and Monitoring System for substandard and falsified products, many countries are now active in reporting suspicious medicines, vaccines and medical devices.

WHO has trained 550 regulators from 141 countries to detect and respond to this issue. As more people are trained, more cases are being reported.

WHO has received reports of substandard or falsified medical products ranging from cancer treatment to contraception. They are not confined to high-value medicines or well-known brand names and are split almost evenly between generic and patented products.

In conjunction with the first report from the Global Surveillance and Monitoring System published today, WHO is publishing research that estimates a 10.5 percent failure rate in all medical products used in low- and middle-income countries.

This study was based on more than 100 published research papers on medicine quality surveys done in 88 low- and middle-income countries involving 48, 000 samples of medicines. Absence of accurate data means that these estimates are just an indication of the scale of the problem.

More research is needed to more accurately estimate the threat posed by substandard and falsified medical products.

Based on 10 percent estimates of substandard and falsified medicines, a modeling exercise developed by the University of Edinburgh estimates that 72, 000 to 169, 000 children may be dying each year from pneumonia due to substandard and falsified antibiotics.

A second model done by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimates that 116 000 (64 000 – 158 000) additional deaths from malaria could be caused every year by substandard and falsified antimalarials in sub-Saharan Africa, with a cost of US$ 38.5 million (21.4 million – 52.4 million) to patients and health providers for further care due to failure of treatment.

Substandard medical products reach patients when the tools and technical capacity to enforce quality standards in manufacturing, supply and distribution are limited. Falsified products, on the other hand, tend to circulate where inadequate regulation and governance are compounded by unethical practice by wholesalers, distributors, retailers and health care workers. A high proportion of cases reported to WHO occur in countries with constrained access to medical products.

Modern purchasing models such as online pharmacies can easily circumvent regulatory oversight. These are especially popular in high-income countries, but more research is needed to determine the proportion and impact of sales of substandard or falsified medical products.

Globalization is making it harder to regulate medical products. Many falsifiers manufacture and print packaging in different countries, shipping components to a final destination where they are assembled and distributed. Sometimes, offshore companies and bank accounts have been used to facilitate the sale of falsified medicines.

“The bottom line is that this is a global problem,” says Dr Simão stressing that “Countries need to assess the extent of the problem at home and cooperate regionally and globally to prevent the traffic of these products and improve detection and response.”

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Source: GNA

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Each day there are more than 5,000 new cases of the waterborne disease, which causes acute diarrhoea and dehydration, in the country where the health system has collapsed after more than two years of war, it said.

“The total number of suspected cholera cases in Yemen this year hit the half a million mark on Sunday, and nearly 2,000 people have died since the outbreak began to spread rapidly at the end of April,” the WHO said in a statement on Monday.

“The spread of cholera has slowed significantly in some areas compared to peak levels but the disease is still spreading fast in more recently affected districts, which are recording large numbers of cases,” it said, reporting a total of 503,484 cases.

The disease, spread by ingestion of food or water tainted with human faeces, can kill within hours if untreated. It has been largely eradicated in developed countries equipped with sanitation systems and water treatment.

But Yemen’s devastating civil war, pitting a Saudi-led military coalition against the Iran-backed armed Houthi group, and economic collapse has made it extremely difficult to deal with catastrophes such as cholera and mass hunger.

Millions of Yemenis remain cut off from clean water and waste collection has ceased in major cities, the WHO added.

Yemen’s 30,000 critical health workers have not been paid salaries in nearly a year and critical medicines are lacking, the WHO said.

“These doctors and nurses are the backbone of the health response – without them we can do nothing in Yemen. They must be paid their wages so that they can continue to save lives,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

WHO and partners are working around the clock to set up cholera treatment clinics, rehabilitate health facilities, deliver medical supplies and support the national effort, the United Nations agency said.

More than 99 percent of patients who reach health facilities survive but children and the elderly are most vulnerable.

“The response is working in some places. We can tell you that surveillance confirms a decline in suspected cases over the past four weeks in some of the most affected governorates,” WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told a news briefing last Friday.

“Most notably Sanaa city, Hajja and Amran are consistent with his decline. But in many other districts, cases and deaths persist and are on the rise.”

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Source: Reuters

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According to the First Lady, although enormous achievements have been made in the fight against the disease, current research shows that nine working days are lost per each episode of malaria a worker suffers.

The research further revealed that, businesses lose a lot each year due to malaria. Madam Akufo-Addo therefore argued that, for the country to sustain the gains made in the struggle, more investments must be made towards the fight.

“There is a huge gap in our funding levels which needs to be filled in order to achieve malaria free Ghana and this is where the business community can lend its support. Every business in Ghana has a worker suffering from malaria so this disease affects all businesses, be it agriculture, banking, industries, manufacturing companies etc. this fact makes malaria a proximal cause and consequences of low productivity and under-development. ”

Whilst speaking at the commemoration of this year’s World Malaria Day, and the inauguration of the Ghana Malaria Foundation, the First Lady commended the members of the foundation for their support.

“I am happy to announce that a group made up of Ghanaian business entities have come together to raise funds to support malaria control in Ghana. We have as its chairman, Mr. Prince Kofi Amoabeng. I will urge all present to give them the needed support to carry out their objectives. When they come knocking on your doors, please contribute generously towards this worthy cause.”

On her part, the Deputy Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Gloria Quansah, was optimistic of the service’s readiness to work with all health-related sectors to reduce the disease with the ultimate aim of eliminating it. According to her, the country, which used to be hyperendemic for malaria was no longer so.”

The World Health Organization (W.H.O) Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, also congratulated the country for its commitment to achieving an end to malaria epidemic and the continual support of W.H.O in the fight.

“W.H.O has announced that he world’s first malaria vaccine will be rolled out through pilot projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The vaccine – known as RTS,S, provides partial protection against malaria in young children. The test phase of this vaccine is a milestone in the fight against malaria.”

This year’s world malaria day is under the theme “End Malaria for Good; Invest In Malaria.”

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By: Felicia Osei/Citifmonline.com/Ghana

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