Substandard and Falsified Medicines: Proposed Methods for Case Finding and Sentinel Surveillance.

ABSTRACT: The World Health Organization and others warn that substandard and falsified medicines harm health and waste money, especially in low- and middle-income countries. However, no country has measured the market-wide extent of the problem, and no standardized methods exist to estimate the prevalence of either substandard or falsified medicines. This is, in part, because the task seems overwhelming; medicine markets are huge and diverse, and testing medicines is expensive. Many countries do operate some form of postmarket surveillance of medicine, but their methods and goals differ. There is currently no clear guidance on which surveillance method is most appropriate to meet specific public health goals. In this viewpoint, we aimed to discuss the utility of both case finding and risk-based sent

SUBMITTER: Pisani E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8406122 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature