On 22 October 2025, the Fight the Fakes Alliance, in partnership with the World Patients Alliance, convened global leaders, experts, and patient advocates for a high-level webinar on one of the most urgent health threats facing the African continent: substandard and falsified medicines.
The event, “Combating Substandard and Falsified Medicines in Africa,” featured insights from a distinguished panel of speakers representing healthcare, pharmacy, supply chain regulation, and patient communities.
Pernette Bourdillon Esteve of the World Health Organization (WHO) opened the session by outlining how the organization is tackling unsafe medicines from both technical and policy angles. She highlighted the essential role of robust regulatory systems and showcased current WHO initiatives, such as new information toolkits, designed to support market surveillance and early detection. Real-world examples involving nitazenes, GLP-1s, and DEG/EG poisonings underscored the complex challenges of communication, access, and reliable information.
“Good regulatory systems are also enablers of access” – Pernette Bourdillon Esteve, Technical Officer, Market Surveillance and Control, WHO.
A dynamic panel discussion followed, featuring:
- Wilson Chandomba (Goodwill Ambassador, Fight the Fakes Alliance)
- Anthony Bakenga Kapeta (Legal Officer at African Union Development Agency)
- Catherine Duggan (CEO, International Pharmaceutical Federation)
- Regina Mariam Namata Kamoga (Executive Director, Community Health and Information Network)
- Pernette Bourdillon Esteve (Technical Officer, Market Surveillance and Control, WHO)
Panelists touched upon the many complex issues that patients and regulatory bodies must face when trying to combat substandard and falsified medicines, including the formation of a multisectoral group in Africa to help identify priorities in fighting substandard and falsified products in order to improve data collection and coordinated action.
Panelists recognized that fighting substandard and falsified medicines requires all stakeholders to play their part.
“I think no one stakeholder can really tackle this problem. I think all of the stakeholders really need to join hands, and also to play their part in all of this” – Hussain Jafri, CEO, World Patients Alliance.
Speakers stressed several core priorities:
- Strengthening supply chains across every stage, including post-market controls
- Continental coordination, backed by strong data collection and shared strategies
- Powerful regulatory frameworks and coordinated surveillance systems
- Patient engagement and pharmacist empowerment as the first line of protection
- Raising public awareness to empower patients, pharmacists, and policymakers
Crucially, all of the panelists emphasized that no single actor can solve this alone. Everyone has a role: from policymakers and regulators to pharmacists, families, and patients themselves.
