Fake medicines flourish in Africa despite killing thousands

By AFP

 

NAIROBI, KENYA: There’s nothing covert about Roxy - a huge market in Abidjan selling counterfeit medicine, the scourge of Africa and the cause of around 100,000 deaths annually on the world’s poorest continent. Located in the bustling Adjame quarter of Ivory Coast’s main city and commercial hub, the haven for fake medicine has been targeted time and again by authorities and stockpiles burnt.

ALSO READ: America Last? EU says Trump is losing on trade But it resurfaces every time. “The police hassle us but they themselves buy these medicines,” said Mariam, one of the many mainly illiterate vendors who hawk everything from painkillers and antibiotics to anti-malaria and anti-retroviral treatments. “When we are harassed we always come to an arrangement with them to resume our activities,” she said.

Fatima, another hawker, said: “Many people come here with their prescriptions to buy medicine, even the owners of private clinics.” She said a “syndicate” that holds regular meetings to fix prices and supply levels controls the sector. Fake medicines cause 100,000 deaths a year in Africa, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The illicit sector has a turnover of at least 10 per cent of the world pharmaceutical business, meaning that it earns tens of billions of dollars a year, the Switzerland-based World Economic Forum estimates, adding that the figure has nearly tripled in five years.

Ailing poor “To sell fake medicines, you need a clientele. The ailing poor are more numerous in Africa than anywhere in the world,” said Marc Gentilini, an expert on infectious and tropical diseases and a former head of the French Red Cross. ALSO READ: Court declines to lift ban imposed on shisha sale Gentilini said some meningitis vaccines sent a few years ago after an outbreak in arid Niger were fake.

The disease kills thousands every year in the arid west African nation. WHO estimates that one out of 10 medicines in the world is fake but the figure can be as high as seven in certain countries, especially in Africa. The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene estimated in 2015 that 122,000 children under five died due to taking poor-quality antimalarials in sub-Saharan Africa, which, along with antibiotics as the two most in-demand, are the medicines most likely to be out-of-date or bad copies.

Interpol in August announced the seizure of 420 tonnes of counterfeit medicine in West Africa in a massive operation that involved about 1,000 police, customs and health officials in seven countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Togo. Geoffroy Bessaud, the head of anti-counterfeit coordination at French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, said fake medicines were the biggest illicit business in the world.

“This phenomenon is spreading: its financial attractiveness draws criminal organisations of all sizes,” he said. “An investment of $1,000 (Sh102,895) can bring returns of up to $500,000 (Sh51.4 million) while for the same kind of investment in the heroin trade or in counterfeit money the amount will be around $20,000 (Sh2 million).” ALSO READ: Hospital tussle affecting service delivery Experts have called for a global fight against the scourge.