More than 35 million individuals are currently
living with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) around the world. Many
are opening out to the public with an aim to create awareness and serve as a
warning to others but there are also individuals who choose to live in the cave
as this disease is understandably embarrassing and degrading.
With the increasing number of peoples being treated
with AIDS, many government bodies partnered with the United Nations (UN) and
World Health Organization (WHO) for the increasing access to antiretroviral
therapy (AVR). Although protective and
advanced measures are being adopted by many government offices, private
institutions, non-profit foundations and public organizations, the widespread
of counterfeit medicines are continuously increasing but less attention are
being paid into it as more and more issues are being considered as prior
importance.
The
Peterson Group, a non-profit organization battling against the illegal
manufacture and distribution of counterfeit drugs is one of the team dedicated
to eliminate the use of antiretroviral therapy in the black market, many of
which are found to be composed of substances such as paint, chalk and many
other compounds used in daily living.
Counterfeit Zidolan-N, a known drug used to counter
HIV/AIDS is found to be released in great quantities in Kenya, Africa and
Jakarta, Indonesia. Another drug, Truvada is said to be products of fraudulent
manufacturers in the United Kingdom. These operations are already said to have
been raided by the authorities but scam reports are continuously coming in as
more and more people are continuously patronizing under the table sales of
these drugs given that 240,000 of victims are under 15 years old. Most of them
are without the difference of the real ones from frauds.
There may be reasons for the lack of access of
legitimate, FDA-approved AVRs in the market. One of these is the fact that only
12.1 million individuals have been given access to real drugs, given that less
developed countries are underprivileged without much focus and support from
authorities and many more individuals living almost under the rock.
The cost of legitimate drugs is also one cause of
purchasing the more affordable ones with little or no awareness for its real
ingredients.
Lack of security is also one of the reasons of the
widespread. In Indonesia, for instance: the archipelagic geography of the
country provides open ports which enable fraudsters to transfer and import the
drugs without being detected.
Everyone, everywhere, involved in the fight against
AIDS wants there to be a cure. But until a cure is found, ARV represents our
only form of life-saving treatment. We have done our part in the process but
will continue to pursue our goal until a definite solution is found, hopefully,
in the near future.
