Malaria is a curable disease, provided timely access to efficacious drugs is sought. Poor quality and, in particular, falsified antimalarial drugs harm the population of malaria endemic areas; they put lives in peril, cause economic losses to patients, families, industry, and generally undermine the trust in health systems. The extent of the problem is not easily assessed, and although a prevalence of up to 35% of poor-quality antimalarials has been reported, this number should be interpreted with caution given the heterogeneity of methods used to measure it. The trade in falsified antimalarials can be curtailed by putting in place drug quality surveillance, better legislation and improving the access and affordability of these essential drugs.