Counterfeit drugs kill nearly 500,000 sub-Saharan Africans every year

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says the trade in medical products kills nearly half a million sub-Saharan Africans each year, noting that action is needed to stem the flow.

This is what UNODC reports in its new threat assessment report.

The report noted that a lack of access to healthcare and medicines had fueled a large number of opportunists to plug the gaps, according to the Trafficking in Medical Products in the Sahel report.

But it stated that this supply and unbalanced demand had deadly consequences.

In sub-Saharan Africa, a staggering 267,000 deaths a year are linked to counterfeit and substandard anti-malarial drugs, according to the Organized Crime Threat Assessment.

In addition, up to 169,271 have been linked to counterfeit and substandard antibiotics used to treat severe pneumonia in children.

The trade in these products also takes a direct economic toll on affected countries.

The World Health Organization estimates that caring for people who have used counterfeit or substandard medical products to treat malaria in sub-Saharan Africa costs between $12 million and $44.7 million each year.

In international operations, more than 605 tons of medical products were seized in West Africa between January 2017 and December 2021.

Typically, these products travel through regular international trade channels, mainly by sea.

Derived from the legal supply chain, the products often come from major exporting countries to the Sahel region, including China, Belgium, France and India. Others are manufactured in neighboring states.

Once in West Africa, smugglers bring medical products by bus, car and truck into the Sahel along existing smuggling routes to avoid border controls.

Terrorist groups and non-state armed groups are often associated with the trade of medical products in the Sahel, but their involvement is limited. These groups levy “taxes” in areas they control or abuse the drugs themselves.

News reports of drug use for non-medicinal purposes among terrorist groups have documented that an al-Qaeda affiliate in Ivory Coast and former Boko Haram recruits in Nigeria have been using or attempting to purchase the opioid-like clonazepam (Rivotril) since at least 2016.

At the same time, the UNODC report states that investigations have exposed several actors involved in the illicit trade in medical products.

Traffickers include pharmaceutical company employees, government officials, law enforcement, health care workers and street vendors.

The African Union established the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization Initiative in 2009 to improve access to safe, affordable medicines.

The effort is part of the Framework on Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa. In addition, all Sahel countries except Mauritania have ratified a treaty establishing the African Medicines Agency.

The UNODC report recognizes these achievements and offers recommendations.

Among them was introducing or reviewing legislation to prevent all related crimes, such as smuggling, money laundering and corruption.

NAN