FENTSE MASEKO | South Africa’s silent epidemic: the urgent need to police fake medicines
WHO estimates that up to 10% of medical products in low- and middle-income countries are either substandard or falsified. In Africa that figure may be higher
11 June 2025 - 04:30
In the midst of South Africa’s ongoing health-care challenges — rising drug prices, medicine shortages and a strained public health system — there is a quieter, more insidious crisis unfolding: the proliferation of counterfeit and substandard medicines...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.
From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.
For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.
Already subscribed? Sign in below.
Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.