Experts group meeting to put the spotlight on sub-standard and falsified medicines   |28 January 2023

An expert group meeting will be held next week with the aim of developing a reference manual on sub-standard and falsified medicines and health products.

The five-day meeting, which will be held at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Beach Resort & Casino, will be officially launched on Monday January 30, 2023 by the Minister for Health, Peggy Vidot.

The meeting will see a number of international legal experts, some coming from the African continent, discuss the formulation of the reference manual in a bid to support the fight against organised crime related to the production and trafficking of sub-standard and falsified medicines and health products (SFMHP) and to achieve better public health outcomes primarily in eleven countries in Eastern and Central Africa and in Africa.

The production, trafficking and use of SFMHP in Africa poses a serious threat to public security and public health around the world. In the last month, we have seen WHO alerts on contaminated paediatric cough syrups in the Gambia and other African and Eastern Asian region. Sub-standard and falsified medicines constitutes 10% of the world medicine market.

Press release from the Ministry of Health