Argentina has been selected by the World Health Organization (WHO) to lead an international partnership whose mission is to come up with strategies to combat the falsification of medications.
The designation took place last Saturday at a meeting of “The Mechanism of the WHO Member States Regarding Substandard, Spurious Medical Products with Misleading, Falsified or Imitation Labels (SSFFC)»», which took place during the 67th Annual Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.
The group led by Argentina will exclude commercial concerns and focus on health as a human right and will seek to achieve the following objectives: identifying needs and obstacles; formulating political recommendations; and creating instruments to prevent, detect and control medications that do not have the proper controls regarding security, quality and efficacy.
Representatives of member countries declared themselves to be worried about the proliferation of the falsification of medications and believe that it is a public health problem that should be monitored nationally and internationally.
At the WHO, meanwhile, it was stated that the consequences of the use of these medications could be the failure of treatment or even the death of the patient.
The group will be run by the Argentine ambassador to international bodies, Alberto D’Alotto, who explained: “We have been taking the lead for a long time and now have the responsibility of heading a process to create the necessary regulations to combat false medications.”
Meanwhile, the National Minister of Health stated: “The fact that we have been chosen to run this new WHO strategy department is a clear expression of the active role that Argentina has played in this area internationally, recognizing our leadership in the fight against falsified medications.” He added that the achievement was national but had regional effects as it is the fruit of work started and implemented years before with the countries that make up UNASUR (United Nations of South America).
In addition Manzur mentioned the role of the SNT (National Traceability System for Medications) in the medication distribution circuit, as the objective of the program was to identify each unit individually and unequivocally for the controlled monitoring of medications and to eliminate illegitimate medications.
Currently the SNT is run by the National Administration of Medications, Foods and Medical Technologies (ANMAT), part of the Ministry of Health. Carlos Chiade, the head of the organization, noted the importance of setting up a global strategy to improve operating and regulatory capacity. “It is an important challenge and honor for Argentina to take the lead on the issue of illegitimate products,” he concluded.
Source: ANMAT
