22% of medicines counterfeited in sub-Saharan Africa

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Extract from the article: In sub-Saharan Africa, according to a report published in July 2024 by the British publisher of scientific and academic journals Taylor & Francis Group, around 22% of medicines sold are substandard or falsified. Entitled «Prevalence of substandard, f

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In sub-Saharan Africa, according to a report published in July 2024 by the British publisher of scientific and academic journals Taylor & Francis Group, around 22% of medicines sold are substandard or falsified. Entitled «Prevalence of substandard, falsified, unlicensed and unregistered medicine and its associated factors in Africa: A systematic review», the report was compiled by researchers from the University of Bahir Dar, who analyzed and compiled 27 studies conducted on this theme at national level in several countries in the region between April 2014 and March 2024.

«Africa suffers from a lower level of public health and socio-economic effects due to the higher prevalence of substandard, adulterated and unlicensed antibiotics, antimalarials, antihelmintics and antiprototics. Their work showed that of the 7508 drug samples covered, 1639 had failed at least one quality test and were found to be substandard or falsified. The lowest prevalence of substandard or falsified medicines was reported in Gabon (0.5%), while the highest prevalence was reported in Malawi (88.4%), followed by Ghana and Togo (75%)», reads agenceecofin.

The report also reveals that antibiotics, antimalarials, anthelmintics and antiprotozoals are the most frequently reported substandard and falsified medicines. The high prevalence of this type of medicine in sub-Saharan Africa is mainly due to poor regulation of the medical products distribution market, the development of free trade, insufficient registration, high demand and poor import standards.

Head of research at the Access to Medicine Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Claudia Martínez, described these findings as a major public health problem. «If patients receive substandard or outright adulterated medicines, it can lead to treatment failure and even preventable deaths», she said.

According to data published in 2023 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the human cost of falsified and substandard medicines would amount to 500,000 deaths per year in sub-Saharan Africa. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines falsified medicines as those whose identity, composition or source is misrepresented, either deliberately or fraudulently.

Inferior-quality medicines, on the other hand, have defects such as underdosing, overdosing or instability of the active substance. China and India appear to be the main suppliers of “falsified” medicines, whose proportion in relation to approved remedies in Africa is said to be as high as 60% in some places.Despite recent efforts, seizures show that «the phenomenon remains significant and involves highly organized criminal networks», according to Dr Innocent Kpéto, former President of Togo's National Order of Pharmacists. In the absence of specific legislation, trafficking in counterfeit medicines is often regarded as a simple offence of counterfeiting, with penalties of a few months' imprisonment at most.

Togo is actually a pioneer after toughening up its penal code back in 2015.Traffickers are now liable to 20 years' imprisonment and a fine of 50 million CFA francs (76,200 euros).

Jean ELI