On the 15 th of March, the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe will join with other Consumer Organisations and the rest of the World in commemorating the World Consumer Rights Day. The Day is steeped in a rich tradition of advocacy and activism for the rights and freedoms of consumers throughout the country, in the region and in the rest of the world.
The theme of this year’s campaign is the: Unethical Drug Promotion. The campaign aims to hold corporations and governments to account in protecting consumers from unethical drug promotion, particularly for prescription-only medication and for Zimbabwe we are also focusing on putting an end to the sell of counterfeit, expired and unregistered drugs.
Examples of unethical drug promotion are:
- Promoting misleading or false claims about a drug.
- Deliberately suppressing risks and side effects of a drug.
- Providing financial incentives to doctors for prescribing a drug to consumers.
- Using disease awareness campaigns for drug promotion rather than health promotion.
CCZ is joining several consumer organisations throughout the world in commemorating this day and call on you to play your part in this global campaign.
Research conducted by Consumers International has revealed that pharmaceutical companies are being allowed to get away with consistently breaching normative and regulatory frameworks intended to ensure that drug promotion and health research is conducted ethically, and without detriment to consumer health and safety.
Drug companies have found new and effective ways to influence consumer opinion by:
- sponsoring patient pressure groups
- funding disease awareness campaigns
- hosting internet websites, and
- offering hospitality to medical experts.
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