To combat the rise of counterfeit and fake anti-malaria medicines in Africa, governments of various African countries are implementing a system where users can scan a small label under the medicine’s cap, which will be analyzed by a central server, and send a text back to the user saying “OK” for genuine products. The effort may soon spread to other medications outside of anti-malaria drugs.
According to government reports, nearly 30 percent of all anti-malaria drugs is fake in the country, either containing a smaller dosage of the real drug or made entirely of sawdust, baby powder, and other materials. The new system, called mPedigree, was initially adapted in Nigeria, and will be funded by pharmaceutical companies and governments to check for authentic medication, and should help users more confidently take their medication. In addition to providing the authentication check, the text message can also contain other important drug information, such as dosage and expiration dates.
Malaria and tuberculosis kills some 700,000 people annually in Africa. Not only are people reluctant to spend money for fear of fake medication, but counterfeits with improper dose and medication may make strains of viruses even more drug-resistant. mPedigree should help encourage people to take medication and prevent more virus mutation as a result of weaker strength counterfeits.
According to Julian Harris of a London-based think-tank, “Right now, the option for many people is taking medicine from a broken blister packet.”
The Associated Press reports that “beyond Nigeria, other countries including Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, have all expressed interest in signing up for the technology. So far, small trials of the text messaging system have been conducted in Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria.” [via Yahoo News]
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