An estimated one in 10 medical products circulating in low-and middle-income countries including India is either substandard or falsified, according to a new research from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

This means that people are taking medicines that fail to treat or prevent disease. Not only is this a waste of money for individuals and health systems that purchase these products, but substandard or falsified medical products can cause serious illness or even death.

“Substandard and falsified medicines particularly affect the most vulnerable communities,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General in a statement here.

“Imagine a mother who gives up food or other basic needs to pay for her child’s treatment, unaware that the medicines are substandard or falsified, and then that treatment causes her child to die.  This is unacceptable.  Countries have agreed on measures at the global level - it is time to translate them into tangible action.”

Since 2013, WHO has received 1500 reports of cases of substandard or falsified products. Of these, antimalarials and antibiotics are the most commonly reported. Most of the reports (42 per cent) come from sub-Saharan Africa, 21 per cent from the Americas and 21 per cent from the European region, the statement said.

This is likely just a small fraction of the total problem and many cases may be going unreported. For example, only 8 per cent of reports of substandard or falsified products to WHO came from the WHO Western Pacific region, 6 percent from the Eastern Mediterranean and just 2 per cent from the South-East Asia region, it said.

Dr Mariangela Simao, Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines, Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals at WHO said that “substandard or falsified medicines not only have a tragic impact on individual patients and their families, but also are a threat to antimicrobial resistance, adding to the worrying trend of medicines losing their power to treat”.

The WHO has received reports of substandard or falsified medical products ranging from cancer treatment to contraception. They are not confined to high-value medicines or well-known brand names and are split almost evenly between generic and patented products.