Zanzibar reports success with anti-fake meds programme

The Zanzibar Food and Drug Agency (ZFDA) has said that a security label introduced earlier this year to fight illegal imported medicines, cosmetics, hygiene and personal care products is already showing results.

The Kulinda Zanzibar programme, which allows government inspectors to quickly catch unlabelled products entering the country, has already resulted in the discovery and elimination of counterfeit versions of some products, according to the regulator.

Among recent cases was the seizure of four bags containing human medicines – including drugs for cancer, thyroid disorders, psychiatric illness and antibiotics – at Zanzibar's international airport. The medicines did not carry the Kulinda label, were unregistered for use in Zanzibar, and arrived in the country from India via Ethiopia Airlines.

The early success of the programme has prompted the ZFDA to publish and enforcement directive, reminding stakeholders in the medicines supply chain of the "significant penalties" that can be levied against any importer that flouts the rules, including confiscation of unlabelled products, levy of fines or cancellation of business permits.

The Kulinda label came into use earlier this year and consists of a security label that is serialised, barcoded and protected via a two-factor authentication system in addition to various embedded overt and covert security features. Traceability is achieved using a serialised QR code, with various digital and taggant technologies providing authentication features.

A key aim is to empower consumers with the ability to authenticate their purchase at the point of sale. The programme requires all saleable packages to have a Kulinda security label applied after entering Zanzibar and before further distribution. ZFDA inspectors can then verify the authenticity of the product at any point in the supply chain.

It is a system designed in Africa, for Africa. The labels for the Zanzibar program are printed in Kenya and Tanzania, while a company based in East Africa delivers the digital backbone for the programme.

"Our goal in the programme is to fully arrest the influx of counterfeit, substandard, expired and diverted products," commented Dr Burhani Simai, ZFDA's executive director (pictured above).

"We are extremely pleased with the results we have seen thus far, leading us to issue a further directive that imposes heavy penalties to non-complying importers and distributors," he added. "We remain steadfast in our goal of making Zanzibar the safest place in all of Africa against the threat to public safety from counterfeits, and we shall achieve that goal with Kulinda."

Zanzibar's largest medicines importer Aruna Pharmacy said that after the introduction of the programme, counterfeit activities the company had previously experienced against its brands have now "completely stopped" and it is seeing an increase in revenues.