Sub-standard antimalarial medicines are still sold widely in Madagascar, Senegal, and Uganda, according to a recently published study by United States Pharmacopeia (USP), a non-governmental organization dedicated to monitoring standards and quality of medicines and food around the world.
Dr. Patrick Lukulay, Director of the Promoting the Quality of Medicines (PQM) program at USP described multiple difficulties countries face in the struggle to guarantee access to high quality medicines. Substandard medicines are available because there is a public demand for affordable health options. So the market for substandard medicines continues to thrive as people buy these medicines due to a lack of resources–illicit medicines are sold at lower prices–and due to a lack of access to high quality medical distributors. People living in rural areas do not always have access to a government-regulated distributor, so will buy medicine from informal distributors in their communities. This is particularly problematic for malaria, because it is such a common ailment. Lukulay explained, “If your child has a high fever [one of the initial symptoms of malaria], you’re not going to travel one hour to go to the capital city. You’re just going to get what’s nearest to your home.”