2 weeks ago what started off as research to understand malaria and it’s awful effects turned into an uncovering of incredible information. From mosquito nets, to vaccines, to laser beams that zap mosquitoes I’ve been impressed with the advances made in technology to battle this killer. I’ve focused a lot on the prevention side until today when I found a post on malaria pills.

Counterfeit Pills

Unbeknownst to me one of the major problems with distributing malaria medication is that pills are counterfeited. Unfortunately, the counterfeit pill market is booming around the world. The dangers are pretty clear. Taking a pill that can treat malaria vs. taking a pill that’s a placebo or even worse. So if you’re somewhere in the world how do you tell if your pill is legitimate or not? If only there was an app for that…

Mobile Phones used against counterfeiting

Well there is a system in development and it’s pretty neat, (article here). It works by utilizing SMS technology (texting in my vernacular) and the idea is fairly simple. Pills come marked with a number underneath a scratch off. When a recipient buys a pill they scratch off the cover to reveal the number. They then text to a “widely advertised number” to verify the pill’s legitimacy. The SMS travels to a data center and sends back a simple message of “OK” if the pill is good, if the pill is a counterfeit the message says “NO”. It’s mobile technology being used to stop counterfeit pills.

Hewlett-Packard currently has a plan to label 125,000 pills. It’ll be great to see the results of their actions. I’m hoping that it works because the stats for counterfeit pills are pretty sobering. According to the London Based International Policy Network fake malaria and tuberculosis pills kill 700,000 people every year. The Policy Network included that it’s the equivalent of four fully laden jumbo jets crashing every day. With numbers like that it’s clear that an advance to protect people from counterfeit drugs is more than a welcome one.

What’s next?

I’m really curious to watch the rise of mobile technology in developing nations. It appears that SMS is already on the rise as a vehicle for communication. I think that we will continue to see a jump in mobile phone use and in addition creative mobile solutions like the one above.

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