Killing, Not Curing: Deadly Boom in Counterfeit Medicine in Afghanistan

January 7, 2015

(The Guardian) – About half of Afghanistan’s pharmaceutical imports are smuggled and not subject to quality control, according to a recent report by the Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (MEC), a watchdog assembled by the international community and the Afghan government. The combined value of illegal and legal pharmaceuticals is $700m (£445m) to $880m. Corruption at customs opened up the country to counterfeit, inferior medicine.