Bharti Airtel partners with Sproxil to combat drug counterfeiting in Africa

Friday, 07 September 2012 07:19

A new service launched by Bharti Airtel and Sproxil will allow customers to verify genuine medications on mobile phones quickly through a text message

Global telecommunications company, Bharti Airtel, has announced its collaborating with multi-national for-profit enterprise, Sproxil, to combat the counterfeit drug market in Africa.

Sproxil’s mobile product authentication system claims to provide consumers a way to verify the validity of a product in a short space of time through a text message.

The service operates by placing a label on goods and then when consumers buy a product, they scratch off the label to reveal a unique code.

After sending the code via SMS the consumer receives a reply almost instantly revealing whether the product is genuine or not.

Andre Beyers, chief marketing officer for Bharti Airtel in Africa, commented, “Our goal is to bring affordable and easily accessible health services to more than 450mn people. The battle against counterfeit drugs is a huge step towards this goal.”

The service, free of charge to Airtel users, is hoped to be a step forward in eradicating counterfeit drugs that are readily available in the African drug market.