Despite these difficulties, Jähnke has recorded many notable successes with the Minilab in the 12 years since the system was first introduced. Today more than 300 units are in use in 65 countries worldwide, mostly in Africa, Asia, and South America. This widespread use is also boosting the system’s level of acceptance in other countries. In October 2008, the GPHF donated two minilabs to Haiti and Burundi, which are among the world’s poorest countries. In Burundi, the donation was combined with training of pharmaceutical technology assistants at a school especially set up for this purpose. The organizers hope this measure will lay the groundwork for a government-run testing lab.

Other countries have made much greater progress with the problem, testing not only medicines, but also pursuing counterfeiters. In Southeast Asia last year, Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam conducted a joint operation, making 27 arrests and confiscating counterfeit medicines worth more than $6.6 million. Authorities in Tanzania and Uganda also announced their first successes in 2008, with the confiscation of hundreds of counterfeit medicines, including many for malaria.

Jähnke hopes this commitment will be intensified, not only to increase the chances that people in affected countries can be cured, but also to gain solid data to determine whether long-standing medical preconceptions are indeed correct. Official statistics show there has been an alarming rise in resistance to standard treatments for malaria over the past several years. According to Jähnke, “this resistance may be caused by the increased amount of counterfeit medicines. If this is true, we will have to completely rethink the way we conduct preventive health care in many areas.”