We can win the war on substandard medicines

These medicines and drugs pose a serious threat to public health and can result in incurable diseases. This lab came at a time when Interpol estimates that up to 30% of all medicines in Africa are either counterfeit or are of inferior quality.

In Botswana, the government recently resolved to allow patients to acquire drugs from pharmacies in events where such prescribed drugs are not available in government hospitals. Obviously, this has attracted the attention and interest of unscrupulous characters, bogus drug manufacturers, and suppliers to intensify their efforts to get a share of the ‘cake’. The effects of globalisation and open borders cannot be reversed, but we can put measures in place to fight some of them. It is therefore a welcome development that some private companies are helping in fighting some of these social ills.