One Year of TRVST Connectivity: What Operational Readiness Really Means

Counterfeit and falsified medicines are not a theoretical risk.

According to UNICEF and the World Health Organization, counterfeit and falsified medicines are estimated to cause the death of 169,000 children under the age of five every year, driven by a counterfeit medicines market worth more than US$30 billion annually in low- and middle-income countries.

In response to this global challenge, UNICEF and its partners developed the Traceability and Verification System (TRVST) — a digital platform designed to help countries verify the authenticity of medicines and track them through the supply chain.

But while TRVST is gaining visibility, an important operational question remains for pharmaceutical manufacturers:

What does it actually mean to be connected to TRVST — and ready to use it in practice?

At SoftGroup, our interface to TRVST has been established and operational for over a year, with customers already providing data through it. This experience offers a practical view into what TRVST readiness really involves.

Why TRVST Exists: A Global Patient Safety Challenge

TRVST was launched in 2022 under UNICEF’s Verification and Traceability Initiative (VTI) — a multi-stakeholder partnership including organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the European Commission, Gavi, the Global Fund, USAID, the World Bank, and national regulatory authorities.

Its purpose is clear:
to strengthen countries’ ability to detect counterfeit and falsified medicines by enabling real-time verification and traceability on a single, shared platform.

UNICEF estimates that one in ten medical products in low- and middle-income countries may be counterfeit or falsified — a risk that increases during periods of high demand, such as the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Beyond treatment failure, falsified medicines can cause direct harm, including poisoning, and undermine trust in health systems and immunization programs.

How TRVST Works (and Why Standards Matter)

• Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs)
• Serial numbers
• Batch and lot data
• Production and expiry dates

• Use GS1 global standards
• Integrate with national information systems
• Support countries on their journey toward end-to-end traceability