Uganda's Health Ministry investigates fake drugs

Uganda's Ministry of Health and National Drug Authority have launched an investigation into the spread of fake malaria drugs in the country, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's Global Health Reporting.org newsletter. A combination of quinine and sulfate, marketed under the brand name QuineA, has been linked to a series of adverse events involving children being injected with the drug.

However, the NDA has admitted that it cannot confirm that local reports of children suffering alleged side effects from QuineA are related to reports of counterfeiting. The agency's Commissioner for Community Health told the Uganda-based Monitor newspaper: "we are investigating, if there is anything wrong, the law will take its course."

Uganda's Minister of State for Health, Emmanuel Otaala, said that the government would alert the public to the continuing threat of fake drugs. He said that a particular concern is that fake or adulterated products would increase the spread of drug-resistant malaria.