Surveillance for substandard and falsified medicines by local faith-based organizations in 13 low- and middle-income countries using the GPHF Minilab.

ABSTRACT: This study evaluates the use of the Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF) Minilab for medicine quality screening by 16 faith-based drug supply organizations located in 13 low- and middle-income countries. The study period included the year before the COVID-19 pandemic (2019) and the first year of the pandemic (2020). In total 1,919 medicine samples were screened using the GPHF Minilab, and samples showing serious quality deficiencies were subjected to compendial analysis in fully equipped laboratories. Thirty-four (1.8%) of the samples were found not to contain the declared active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), or less than 50% of the declared API, or undeclared APIs, and probably represented falsified products. Fifty-four (2.8%) of the samples were reported as substandard, although the true

SUBMITTER: Gnegel G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9338985 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature