Table 3.

Selected strategies to promote the quality of medicines.

Strategy	Description
Strengthen the capacity of National Medicines Regulatory Authorities (NMRA)	Through promoting changes in organizational processes as well as human resource training increasing the capability of the NMRA to inspect manufacturers and to promote quality of medicines.
Promote the prequalification program	Program supported by the World Health Organization whereby international experts collaborate with NMRAs in evaluation and inspection activities, and by building national capacity for sustainable manufacturing and monitoring of quality medicines.
Create business environment that is favorable for private sector to invest in secure supply chains	This can be done, for instance, through providing incentives (e.g. low interest loans or tax breaks) so that businesses are more inclined to invest in manufacturing of quality medicines.
Regular quality testing at procurement and sales sites	Judging quality of medicines is very difficult without specific equipment and expertise. By having organizational policies in place to procure only from certified suppliers and conduct regular quality testing reduces the risk of substandard medicines.
Consumer SMS and mobile application verification of product authenticity	During purchase consumers can check whether the product is authentic by sending an SMS with a unique product label number.

Adapted from: Countering the problem of falsified and substandard drugs. Washington: Institute of Medicine, 2013. NMRA, national medicines regulatory authority; SMS, short message service.