The scourge of substandard and falsified medical products gets worse with COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Although health professionals, communities, governments and global institutions work closely to halt the spread of COVID-19 and mitigate its societal impact, COVID-19 remains a challenge to many countries around the world. In addition to its direct health, economic and social consequences, the pandemic has also resulted in unforeseen consequences in Africa especially in East African countries. COVID-19 might increase the demand and consumption of Substandard and Falsified (SF) medical products in three major ways. The first way is due to the inability of vulnerable segment of the population to access healthcare services as they used to do before. The second way people get exposed to SF medical products is due to fear of being quarantined, isolated and traced. Yet another way is related to import permits for medical products. Concerned regulatory bodies shall intervene aggressively in ensuring the safety, quality and effectiveness of medical products before we face a parallel pandemic from SF medical products.

Substandard and Falsified Medications: A Barrier to Global Health Equity Exemplified in Ecuador

“…Although the FDA proactively collaborates with manufacturers to reduce the risk of critical drug shortages, many countries may not have the bandwidth to coordinate such an effort. These countries are not served by the large-scale trackable supply chains, leaving patients at an increased risk of obtaining SF medications, especially when supply chains are taxed during or after a pandemic [ 42 , 43 ].…”

A call to action: securing an uninterrupted supply of Africa’s medical products and technologies post COVID-19

“… Poor infrastructure, weak regulatory frameworks and inadequate compliance, lack of protection from unfair international competition, and poor patronage from buyers plague local manufacture of essential medical products and technologies(drugs, biological products, and medical devices) [ 21 ]. Influx and proliferation of falsified and substandard products increased with emergency efforts to find medical products to manage COVID-19 [ 25 ]. Without adequate quality assurance measures for medicines and vaccines, the world, especially Africa, risks a parallel pandemic of substandard and falsified products [ 25 ].…”

“… Influx and proliferation of falsified and substandard products increased with emergency efforts to find medical products to manage COVID-19 [ 25 ]. Without adequate quality assurance measures for medicines and vaccines, the world, especially Africa, risks a parallel pandemic of substandard and falsified products [ 25 ]. This poses a serious threat to the economy and health security of the continent, and even globally.…”

Detection of Substandard and Falsified Antibiotics Sold in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Using Validated HPLC and UV-Visible Spectrophotometric Methods

“…4 Several factors may explain this situation, such as the inadequacy of the quality assurance system (good manufacturing practices, good distribution practices and good pharmacy practices), the medications sale in inappropriate places, the lack of analytical strategies to detect substandard medicines, improper manufacturing, and poor monitoring and surveillance systems to verify the quality of pharmaceutical products. [5][6][7] In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, several cases of falsification of vaccines and drugs (e.g., chloroquine) intended to treat COVID-19 have been reported in some African countries, namely Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nigeria, and South Africa. 4,[8][9][10] Democratic Republic of the Congo, being the second largest country in Africa, is seriously affected by the problems of substandard medications.…”