Vol. 7, Issue 2, Part A (2025)

Background: Counterfeit medicines are medicines that are intentionally and fraudulently mislabeled. Counterfeit medicines can have incorrect ingredients, can have no active ingredients, or it can have dangerous ingredients. Counterfeit medicines are a growing global problem in public health. They are trending to be an even larger crisis in lower and middle-income countries due to regulatory burden.

Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study carried out in Freetown, Sierra Leone to assess the awareness and the attitudes of 139 licensed pharmacists (at least 1 year experience and registered with the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone) with a convenience sampling method through a self-administered questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 27, and presented in tables, figures (as necessary). Data was securely stored on a personal computer and an external backup, only accessible to the investigator and the supervisor.

Result: Of the 139 pharmacists in Freetown, Sierra Leone, a total of 124 pharmacists were recruited to participate in the descriptive study. The majority of pharmacists were male (75.8%). The majority of pharmacists were 31-40 years old (56.5%) and practiced primarily in urban and community pharmacy settings; while most pharmacists defined counterfeit medicines as non-approvable or sub-standard products from primarily China and India; they based their awareness primarily from labels and billboards listed in pharmacies. Only a small percentage (8.1%) of pharmacists personally encountered counterfeit medicines in their practice, although they reported ethical issues with counterfeit medicines as a profession, contradictory to their attitudes toward counterfeit medicines where an overwhelming 88.7% reported to purchasing counterfeit medicines if it was cheaper, meanwhile an overwhelming majority (98.4%) of pharmacists condemned dispensing counterfeit medicines knowingly and support punitive measures against counterfeit medicines. Overall pharmacists had a strong professional stance against counterfeit medicines.

Conclusion: While pharmacist have high knowledge of and condemned counterfeit medicine in Sierra Leone, there is still a considerable ethical gap in terms of their willingness to buy counterfeit medicine if it was cheaper. This suggests the need for systemic changes.