It is always important for travelers to get to know the place they are going to before they travel to, although it cannot be prevented when they want to be adventurous and just learn the things while they are travelling in a foreign place. Depending on the country, it can either be a safe or a dangerous situation for travelers if they have difficult access to authentic and original drugs or medicine. There would not be any problem if you have brought with you the necessary medicines that is essential for a trip but when you have none, you will have to be extra careful when purchasing medicine, especially when you decide to buy them at open markets. There are fake medicines that can either be ineffective or will bring harm to your body.
Fake medicines are manufactured for the sake of money and they use the wrong kind of ingredients to make up a medicine. These did not undergo any checks with the right authorities and they make use of packages to make their medicine look like the real brand named drugs. There are many cases of fake medicines occurring around the world but they are commonly found in countries that have lose laws against them, especially when they are not imposing the right kind of laws for restricting the discipline of making medicines. Between 20 and 30 percent of medicines that are being sold in various developing countries are fake compared to industrialized countries such as those found in the European Union, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Australia and the United States in which only less than one percent of the medicines are fake.
Although it can be difficult to determine which medicines are fake, there are preventive measures against it. When you buy medicines in a place unfamiliar to you and you cannot help but need to buy them since it is an emergency, reduce the chances of buying fake medicines by:
- Buying medicines that are sold at licensed pharmacies and make sure to ask for a receipt. Avoid open markets.
- Do not hesitate to ask the pharmacist about the active ingredients if they are the same with the ones that you are looking for.
- Check out the packaging to see if it is original or not. Look closely for other details as well such as how they are printed. You will be able to tell with fake ones since the printing looks strange.