The private sector can and should play an important role in public health, but it remains to be seen whether or not the benefits that have arisen from the AMFm could have been achieved through alternative mechanisms and potentially at lower cost.

This study attempts to ascertain whether registered medicines perform better in simple quality tests than those that are either not registered or not known to be registered.

There are many website pharmacies, including those from overseas, from which it is almost certainly safe to procure medicines, and U.S. consumers should be able to reduce their risk by relying on credentialing agencies recommended lists and by using common sense when examining packaging and pills.

A significant portion of antimalarial drugs in Africa have been illegally diverted from the public sector, where they were intended to be dispensed free of charge in public health facilities, to the private sector.

Drug quality is probably improving in Lagos, the largest city of Nigeria, and Accra, the capital of Ghana, which each have serious problems with substandard pharmaceuticals.

Requiring African countries to use international competitive bidding processes for certain drug purchases has caused more harm than good.

This study examines the price, conditions of purchase, and basic quality of five popular drugs purchased over the Internet.

There are always costs of both action and inaction; however, before a costly scheme is funded, better evidence of its effectiveness should be established.