Substandard and falsified medical products

Up to two billion people around the world lack access to necessary medicines, vaccines, medical devices including in vitro diagnostics,  and other health products, which creates a vacuum that is too often filled by substandard and falsified products. This problem is growing as global supply chains become more complex, meaning products manufactured in one country may be packaged in a second country and distributed across borders to be marketed or sold to consumers in a third. The growth of e-commerce also contributes to this trend by making it easier to purchase medicines online, often from unauthorized sources.

WHO has identified this issue one of the urgent health challenges for the next decade given that more than one in ten medicines in low- and middle-income countries are estimated to be substandard or falsified. No country remains untouched from this issue, and WHO has received reports of substandard or falsified medical medicines, vaccines and in vitro diagnostics from all regions of the world. Both generic and innovator medicines can be falsified, ranging from very expensive products for cancer to very inexpensive products for treatment of pain.

WHO Member States have agreed on a comprehensive global strategy focused on prevention, detection and response to move towards achieving increased access to quality, safe, effective and quality medical products.