Freetown — When Kadiatu Conteh has pain or isn't feeling well, she buys drugs like paracetamol and antibiotics to make her feel better. The drugs come from drug peddlers who come to her compound.

"I'm tired, I don't have money to go to the pharmacy," she said. "The drug peddlers are cheaper."

But sometimes the drugs are expired and don't work as well, and she has to buy more in order to feel better. Sometimes the drugs are of poor quality, and either don't work at all or cause people to become sicker.

One of Conteh's neighbours bought medicine from a stall on the street. It made her feel uneasy and her body began to swell. She had to go to the pharmacy to get other drugs to make her better.

Wiltshire Johnson, the acting registrar of the Pharmacy Board, said counterfeit and substandard drugs are a big problem in Sierra Leone. If people take these, it can cause them to become sick or even kill them.

"Everything is counterfeited in Sierra Leone, especially if it is required in large volumes," Johnson said. Everyday products such as painkillers and antibiotics are the most commonly counterfeited.

These products are most often sold by people selling medicines without a license. The counterfeit items are cheaper for them to buy than legitimate ones. They may not even be aware that the products are potentially dangerous.

The Pharmacy Board has been doing raids on unlicensed drug peddlers, but Johnson said the laws are weak so they just go back to business.

Counterfeit and substandard drugs are a problem all over the world. According to a 2006 World Health Organization study, as many as 30 percent of drugs in Africa and parts of Asia and Latin America are counterfeit.

In Sierra Leone, the fake drugs are smuggled through the country's porous borders. There are more than 1,000 crossing points that are unmanned by customs officials. The Pharmacy Board only has officials at Lungi airport and Queen Elizabeth Quay, making it difficult to stop the smuggling.

"Human resources are the greatest problem," Johnson said, "so there is no one at the borders. We heed resources to employ people."

He said the Ministry of Health increased the Pharmacy Board's budget this year. This will allow them to get vehicles and send 15 inspectors to work at the Guinean and Liberian borders.

The Pharmacy Board does routine tests of drugs to make sure that they are of good quality. This year, they want to start traveling to where the drugs are manufactured to verify that they are being made to standard.

They are also trying to get the bad products that are already in the country off the streets and shelves. They destroyed more than Le 1.5 billion worth of counterfeit and substandard drugs in 2008.

Their efforts include educating people about the dangers of substandard and fake drugs, as well as right way to take medication. The Board urged people to report adverse effects from drugs taken.