Substandard and falsified (SF) medical products (medicines, vaccines, diagnostic tests and devices) pose an immediate danger to many people worldwide, and in the case of anti-infectives, they could also increase the threat of drug resistance emerging and spreading. A major challenge in preventing this is a lack of accessible and reliable information on how widespread they really are. This new mapping tool visualises these data and it will help scientists, health professionals and officials fill critical information gaps.
Funded by Wellcome, the tool delivers summaries of published scientific reports on the quality of communicable diseases (antimalarials, antiretrovirals, antibiotics, anti-tuberculosis) non-communicable diseases (antidiabetics and medical devices for diabetes management, cardiovascular medicines and medical devices), veterinary medicines, and vaccines across regions and over time, both in English and French.
It builds on the success of the Medicine Quality team’s work on WWARN’s existing Antimalarial Surveyor and future phased releases are planned that will expand its reach to other medical products.
With increasing number of reports in the scientific literature of substandard and falsified medical products for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of COVID-19 we are developing a Surveyor database and map for these, including past reports of SF medicines being repurposed for COVID-19.