Vatican denounces fake meds for poor
Published on
September 15 , 2009
POZNAN, Poland : As many as 50% of medicines sold in Africa
could be fake, according to the president of the Vatican's health care council.
Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Health
Care Ministry, affirmed this at a conference of the International Federation of
Catholic Pharmacists. The four-day meeting ended today in Poznan. The theme of
the conference focused on ethics and awareness for pharmacists in the field of
medicine security.
Archbishop Zimowski's denunciation took up statistics from the World Health
Organization. Unofficial sources cited by the L'Osservatore Romano on the
conference contended that in some African nations, actually as many as 60% of
medications are fake.
The World Health Organization contends that in regions of Southeast Asia and
Latin America, as many as 30% of medicines could be fake.
"The manipulation and falsification of medicines," the archbishop
explained in his intervention "primarily affects children. Fake
antibiotics and fake vaccinations cause grave harm for their health."
"There are many deaths because of respiratory illnesses among African
children, because they are treated with false antibiotics that don't have an
active ingredient, but which are sold at high prices," he said.
Citing "Caritas in Veritate," the archbishop affirmed that
counterfeit medication is an ethical emergency in developing countries.
He invited Catholic pharmacists to "courageously denounce every form of
falsification and counterfeiting of medicine, and oppose its
distribution."
Archbishop Zimowski said the children who are victimized by this situation
"let out a silent scream of suffering that tugs at our consciences"
as persons, whether or not we are believers.
