The UN has said that substandard and fake medicines like contraband cough syrups kill almost half a million Sub-Saharan Africans annually.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released the report titled ‘Trafficking in Medical Products in the Sahel,’ which mentioned that counterfeit drugs from Belgium, China, France, and India end up in the region’s supply chain due to high demand.
UN report warns of the rise in fake and substandard medicines in Africa's Sahel region, which kills almost half a million sub-Saharan Africans annually. https://t.co/29qhlTYzna
— The Guardian Nigeria (@GuardianNigeria) May 29, 2023
Overview
“This disparity between the supply of, and demand for, medical care is at least partly filled by medicines supplied from the illegal market to treat self-diagnosed diseases or symptoms,” the report stated.
The UN highlighted that fake or substandard malaria medicines kill 267,000 sub-Saharan Africans, while about 170,000 children from the region die due to unauthorized antibiotics for pneumonia.
The report said that corruption in the region leads to these substandard medicines entering the supply chain. Almost 605 tonnes of fake medicines were seized by authorities in the region from 2017 to 2021.
“Transnational organized crime groups take advantage of gaps in national regulation and oversight to peddle substandard and falsified medical products,” UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly said.
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— IPRC (@ibam_tr) May 28, 2023
Substandard or fake medicines,like contraband baby cough syrup,are killing almost half a million sub-Saharan Africans every year,according to a threat assessment report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.@UN
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Need To Improve Laws
Despite legal provisions in place, the problem persists. UNODC reported that all Sahel countries, except Mauritania, had ratified a treaty to set up an African medicine agency.
The report mentions that the African Union’s African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization initiative aims to improve access to safe, affordable medicine. The agency has recommended that legislations in the region be improved as some laws are outdated even though legal provisions are in place.
In 2022, INTERPOL coordinated Operation Pangea in 90 countries, targeted online pharmaceutical sales, and seized illicit medicine worth $11 million.
Sixty-six Gambian babies and young children died from acute kidney failure after consuming cough syrups in 2022. The World Health Organization (WHO) held that four tainted paediatric products had originated in India. Before this, the WHO had associated Indian cough syrups with the deaths of 19 youngsters in Uzbekistan.
Starting 1 June, Indian exporters must get their samples tested before exporting their products. The Indian government has made it compulsory for cough syrup makers to get a certificate of analysis from a government laboratory before exporting their products.