{"id":42748,"date":"2014-08-28T17:39:11","date_gmt":"2014-08-28T17:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=42748"},"modified":"2014-08-28T17:41:14","modified_gmt":"2014-08-28T17:41:14","slug":"prevent-fake-ebola-cholera-drugs-with-mpedigree-psgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/08\/prevent-fake-ebola-cholera-drugs-with-mpedigree-psgh\/","title":{"rendered":"Prevent fake Ebola & Cholera drugs with \u2018mPedigree\u2019 \u2013 PSGH"},"content":{"rendered":"
As concerns continue to mount about the ongoing cholera crisis, and with Ebola spreading in West Africa, fears are rising that managing these diseases will become more difficult because of the presence of fake and counterfeit medicines, which the WHO says make up 25% of all medicines in West Africa.<\/p>\n
An event in Accra to launch an initiative called PREVENT \u2013 Patients\u2019 Research, Empowerment, Vigilance & Education through New Technologies \u2013 Professor Alex Dodoo, Global Advisor of mPedigree, said that if the antibiotics and other medicines used to manage complications from diseases such as Ebola and Malaria turned out to be fake, the impact on the country will be catastrophic.<\/p>\n
Pharmacist Ohemeng Kyei, President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH), the initiators of the PREVENT initiative\u00a0www.preventfaking.com<\/a>, said that the professional association has decided to introduce the initiative to prevent the entry and circulation of fake medicines in Ghana.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the first place, as once a fake medicine enters the supply chain the harm has already been done,\u201d Pharmacist Ohemeng Kyei cautioned.<\/p>\n PSGH has therefore adopted the mPedigree Goldkeys platform\u00a0www.goldkeys.net<\/a>\u00a0and introduced a social media platform from PopOut, an Accra creative agency.<\/p>\n Through the Goldkeys platform, consumers and regulators, like the FDA, can detect if a pack of medicine is fake in seconds by sending a unique 12-digit number under a scratch-off layer to short code 1393 on all major mobile networks in Ghana.<\/p>\n The text message is free to the consumer and the response will contain the important details about the medicine.<\/p>\n