Quality of Antimalarial Drugs in East Africa: A Systematic Review

The use of poor quality drugs will have multiple consequences with an extended hazard of growing drug-resistant strains.The review aimed to provide the quality status of antimalarial drugs in East Africa.PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched from September 5 to September 12, 2021.The review included articles available as original research targeted at evaluating the quality of antimalarial drugs. For inclusion, data on at least one of the following quality control parameters were required: packaging and labeling, hardness, friability, weight variation/uniformity of weight, disintegration, dissolution, and assay/percentage purity. Mendeley citation manager version 1.19.4 was used to avoid duplication and organize references, and titles and abstracts were primarily used for screening.The sample collection site, drug name, and the quality control parameters tested were retrieved from the selected studies.An unneglected amount of antimalarial drug failed to meet at least one quality control parameter. Strengthening pharmaceutical management systems, including post-marketing surveillance, and providing the resources required for medication quality assurance, are recommended.