On World Health Day, EU launches new project to fight falsified medicines in developing countries
On World Health Day, the European Union has launched a new project which will support the fight against the production and the trafficking in falsified medicines in Cameroon, Ghana, Jordan, Morocco and Senegal, which are situated along two of the main routes for the production and trafficking in falsified medicines (from Arabian Peninsula and Middle East to West/Central Africa; from East/Horn of Africa, via Yemen and Sudan, to Central Africa).
European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, said: "Falsified medicines have become an important source of income for organised crime groups, with extremely high returns, hampering the peaceful development of these countries. ‘With this project we will provide training – to support investigation and criminal justice services, as well as to provide technical support – to detect and analyse suspicious medicines and raise awareness of the risks related to the use of falsified medicines."
Falsified medicines are a major threat to public health and safety as they usually contain ingredients which are of bad quality, in the wrong dose or simply ineffective, and in some cases even toxic.
For more information: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-378_en.htm
