Uganda adopts blockchain technology to restrict flow of counterfeit drugs

With the rise of counterfeit medicines that take lives of over 1 million people every year, new ways and technologies are evolving and blockchain is one of those. Around 10 percent of medicines across the planet are counterfeit, according to the World Health Organization, this rate is as high as 30 percent in some areas in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Even an EU-funded report released in November last year claimed the death of tens of thousands of people in Africa every year due to fake and counterfeit medication. Uganda now is giving its endeavors to put an end to the epidemic of counterfeit drugs by the utilization of blockchain technology.

Among other African countries, Uganda comprises of as much as 10 percent of counterfeit medicine. Now the East African country is trying to rise against this massive spread by using the power of blockchain. The fake medicines mainly come from Kenya and the DR Congo. According to CCN, the government of Uganda has joined hand with MediConnect, a blockchain start-up, to work on creating national infrastructure and take advantage of the distributed ledger's transparency to ensure safe drugs in the country.

In other words, Uganda has started using the platform of blockchain technology to identify counterfeit medicines and fake drugs and prevent its distribution in the pharmaceutical supply chain. MediConnect with this new association with the Ugandan government will explore the transparency of decentralized ledger technology to limit opportunities for messing with supply data, as reported by WeeTracker.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of MediConnect, Dexter Blackstock, the blockchain is a good opportunity for the firm to establish its base in Uganda's national infrastructure and protect its citizens by ensuring all drugs are safe. "The Ugandan President, Minister of Health and National Drug Authority all understand the need to act fast to tackle the country's counterfeit drug problem and recognize the benefits offered by tracing medication on the secure, scalable blockchain framework we are developing," Blackstock added.

Blockchain technology, notorious for its applications in securing vast swathes of data in a way that's impossible to manipulate, has vast potential to tackle this growing illicit industry by tracking the movement of drugs. This type of tracking is absolutely necessary as the imposter medications are almost impossible to detect.

The spreading of Internet and online retailing are other major causes of the increase in counterfeit medicines. The United States is also combating with this fake drug market. Even the Indian government is also working on a blockchain Proof of Concept (PoC) solution in a crackdown on counterfeit drugs. On the other hand, Australian blockchain firm TBSx3 is working on similar blockchain technology using a cryptocurrency-powered and blockchain-based verification system to tackle fake goods.

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