Here are four things to know.
1. The agency has received 1,500 reports of substandard or falsified products since 2013.
2. While affected products range from contraceptives to cancer medications, reports most commonly involve antimalarials and antibiotics.
3. Of the reported cases, 42 percent occurred in Africa, 21 percent occurred in North and South America, and another 21 percent occurred in Europe.
4. The WHO launched the Global Surveillance and Monitoring System in 2013 to track substandard and falsified products, but believes many cases are still going unreported.
“Substandard and falsified medicines particularly affect the most vulnerable communities,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD. “Imagine a mother who gives up food or other basic needs to pay for her child’s treatment, unaware that the medicines are substandard or falsified, and then that treatment causes her child to die. This is unacceptable. Countries have agreed on measures at the global level — it is time to translate them into tangible action.”
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