MHRC intensifies awareness on substandard and falsified medicine in Malawi

Machinga, May 30, Mana: Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) on Thursday engaged communities at Ekhama Primary School, Traditional Authority Mchinguza in Machinga where it presented a public inquiry report on substandard and falsified (SF) medicines, and raised public awareness on SF same, while assessing medicines’ impact on patients at the expense of human rights.

The Commission’s public inquiry into SF medicines in Malawi was conducted on September, 5, 2024, at Ekhama Primary School, Nayuchi, Traditional Authority Mchinguza which was also the first area to disseminate the inquiry report on May, 29, 2025.

Commissioner, Grace Malera, presented the report as findings indicated that SF medicines were also in use in Machinga's health care system.

“The main cause of this problem is poor storage facilities in health centres and lack of knowledge from community members to identify counterfeit medicines that may put them at health risks,” she said.

Malera called upon duty bearers such as Ministry of Health, Pharmacy and Medicines Regulatory Authority (PMRA) and Central Medical Stores Trust (CMST), which is mandated with the effective, efficient and progressive management of medicines in line with laws, policies and regulations to meet their obligations.

She reminded the CMST that people have the right to quality health care and that there was need for the trust to fulfil its mandatory role, and to deal with SF medicines that bring misfortunes to patients.

Malera also urged community members to always seek standardised medical care, rather than seeking low standards health care services that include SF medicines in health facilities.

Deputy Director in the Ministry of Health, Department of Health Sector Inter-Governmental Coordination, Wezi Mumba acknowledged the ministry’s role in protecting and respecting people’s right to health.

“As the ministry, we agree to the findings in the report. This is a wakeup call to strengthen routine supervision in both public and private hospitals in every district in order to ensure quality service provision to save lives,” she added.

A community member at Mchinguza, Bennet Daniel Mussa, who came across a victim of SF medicines, commended MHRC for raising awareness on existence of SF medicines and its effects

“Working with youth organisations, I came across a person that suffered adverse effects due to incorrect medication, resulting in a prolonged illness for about three months,

“If we were knowledgeable enough about SF medicines like we are now, I am sure we would have likely prevented this. MHRC is doing great job in raising awareness on SF medicines,” Mussa added.

MHRC did the presentation at Ekhama School before various stakeholders that included; Association of Private Hospitals and Health Facilities, Association of Local Manufacturers of Medicines, Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM), Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHES), Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN), Malawi Police Service, Pharmaceutical Society of Malawi (PHASOM), Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDAA), and representatives of World Health Organization (WHO)