Medicines trafficking a major threat in Central Africa

Countries in central Africa face a major public health threat from trafficking in medicines, fuelled by a gap between healthcare needs and access to safe, affordable medicine, the UN warned on Tuesday. The six countries of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (Cemac) have a high prevalence of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and HIV, reports africanews. But treatment and safe medicines are not always readily available, or are too expensive, which ‘fuels the development of an illicit market for medical products’, warned a new report by the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODOC), the World Health Organisation and Cemac. Traffickers divert prescription drugs from regulated supply chains and national health programme stocks. They also peddle medicines that are counterfeit, substandard or have not been officially approved. They include antibiotics, anti-malarial drugs, painkillers, anti-inflammatories and psychoactive substances such as tramadol and pregabalin. At least 251 tonnes of medicines were seized in Cameroon, the CAR, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon between 2020 and 2025, the report said. The trafficking ‘constitutes a major threat to public health’, leading to ‘treatment failures, poisonings and avoidable deaths’, UNODC said. Sometimes the illicit medicines end up in official healthcare facilities, which are generally perceived as safe by patients, it added. Most trafficked medicines enter the region via its sea and river ports, or are smuggled in by air as freight or in passengers' luggage before being distributed to the hinterland along major trade roads. In the CAR, armed groups are earning money by looting health centres and levying ‘taxes’ on shipments of products passing through areas under their control, the report said.

Full africanews report