This report is a result of the study carried out by the World Health Organization (WHO) in cooperation with the Ministries of Health of the Union of Myanmar and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. WHO wishes to thank the Governments of the two countries for their cooperation and assistance.

The study was one of the components of the WHO project on combating counterfeit drugs, a joint DAP-DMP¹ activity financed by the Government of Japan. It was conducted by Mr Eshetu Wondemagegnehu, WHO/EDM, in collaboration with the national counterparts - Dr Thiri Tun Myint, Deputy Director for Drugs, Food and Drug Administration, Myanmar; and Dr Trinh Van Quy, Director of the National Institute of Quality Control, Viet Nam.

¹ The Department of Essential Drugs and Other Medicines (EDM) includes the former Action Programme on Essential Drugs (DAP) and most components of the Division of Drug Management and Policies (DMP).

The Division of Drug Analysis of the Department of Medical Sciences, Ministry of Health (MoH) of Thailand, which is also the WHO Collaborating Centre for the Quality Control of Drugs, carried out the laboratory tests on the samples collected.

A total of 18 drug regulatory authorities cooperated in providing the necessary information for the investigation of the samples: those of Australia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom and Viet Nam.

The contribution of the following people who reviewed and commented on earlier drafts of the report is gratefully acknowledged: Professor Peter Eagles (South Africa), Ms Daphne Fresle (WHO/EDM), Mr Graham Grayston (WHO/EDM), Dr Kazuko Kimura (WHO/EDM), Dr Felix Rosenberg (Brazil), Mr Murtada Sesay (WHO/EDM), Dr Thiri Tun Myint (Myanmar) and Professor Trinh Van Quy (Viet Nam).