Nearly half a million people in sub-Saharan Africa die each year at the hands of two types of substandard or fake drugs, according to a new threat assessment report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
This includes 267,000 deaths a year from antimalarial medicines and another 169,271 deaths from antibiotics to treat severe pneumonia in children.
The report says that high prevalence of infectious diseases coupled with challenges in access to health care, including affordability, means “demand for medical products and services is not fully met through formal channels” creating an opening for organized criminals involved in trafficking.