Keeping it real : combating the spread of fake drugs in poor countries

This paper is about substances that are sold as medicines yet are not what they purport to be. Some of these substances are deliberately mislabeled, i.e. counterfeit. Others may have been inadvertently mislabelled or the pills contaminated during manufacture. Others may originally have been exactly as they claim, but due to poor storage have degraded and are consequently substandard. The paper is composed of four parts. The first looks at the scope of the problem in less developed countries; the second examines the health impacts of fake medicines; the third section considers the main causes of the problem; and the final section offers some possible solutions