Of the many factors that make improving the health system difficult, few challenges are greater than the misty-eyed recollection – often from genuinely distinguished practitioners – of how great things used to be.  Doctors were highly regarded authority figures, pure and beloved, while patients were meek and grateful in the presence of such brilliance and expertise.

Background

About a third of the world’s population, concentrated in poorer regions of the world, may be infected with TB, which generally lies dormant until the carrier’s immunity is impaired by another disease (often HIV infection). Without treatment, about half of the patients with active TB will die. According to WHO...

Evidence from numerous studies shows that emerging markets have far more poor quality drugs than western markets. There are many reasons for this, but one reason, investigated in this paper, is the possibility that smaller, often privately-owned, pharmacies take greater risks with drug procurement than larger organizations, which are often franchises or major pharmacy chains.

The trade in inferior quality medicines kills innocent patients. Perhaps 15 percent of the global drug supply outside of advanced countries is counterfeit, rising in certain markets in parts of Africa and Asia to over 50 percent. But counterfeits are not the only low-quality drugs on the market.

ABSTRACT

Using 1437 samples of Ciprofloxacin from 18 low-to-middle-income countries, we aim to understand the role that regulation and distribution channel have played in signaling and ensuring drug safety. According to the World Health Organization, some poor quality drugs are deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled with respect to identity or source while...

Using 1437 samples of Ciprofloxacin from 18 low-to-middle-income countries, we aim to understand the role that regulation and distribution channel have played in signaling and ensuring drug safety.

Any efforts to improve public health by developing new medicines or by changing treatment policies will ultimately be pointless if the drugs patients actually take contain insufficient or incorrect ingredients.