A lack of access to healthcare and medicines has been fuelling a host of opportunists aimed at filling the gaps, the report Trafficking in Medical Products within the Sahel shows. But , this supply and an imbalance in demand, has triggered deadly results.
Bitter capsule of trafficking
Once in West Africa, smugglers move healthcare products by bus, cars and trucks to the Sahel, following current trafficking routes, to avoid border controls. The African Union established the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization initiative last year to improve access to safe, inexpensive medicine. The effort is part of its Framework on Pharmaceutic Manufacturing Plan for Africa. In addition , all Sahel countries but Mauritania have ratified a treaty for the establishment of the African Medicines Agency. Trafficking these products is also taking a immediate economic toll on affected countries. The World Health Organization ( WHO SEEM TO ) estimates that will caring for people who have used falsified or substandard medical products for malaria treatment in sub-Saharan Africa costs between million to . 7 million every year .
605 tons seized
Realizing these achievements, the UNODC report offered suggestions . Among them was to introduce or modify legislation to prevent all associated offences , such as smuggling, money-laundering and corruption. At the same time, the UNODC report states that inspections have uncovered a variety of stars involved in the illicit medical item trade. Traffickers include pharmaceutical company employees, community officials, law enforcement officers, wellness agency workers and road vendors . News reports upon drug use for non-medicinal purposes among terrorist organizations, have documented an Al-Qaida affiliate in Côte d’Ivoire and former Boko Haram recruits in Nigeria, making use of or attempting to buy the opioid-like clonazepam (rivotril) since a minimum of 2016.
Myriad traffickers
In sub-Saharan Africa, as many as 267, 000 deaths per year are linked to falsified and substandard antimalarial medications , the transnational organized crime threat assessment discovered. Terrorist groups and non-State armed groups are commonly associated with medical item trafficking in the Sahel, however their involvement is limited. These groups levy “taxes” within areas they control or even they abuse the medications themselves. In addition , up to 169, 271 are associated with falsified and substandard antibiotics used to treat severe pneumonia in children.
Dealing with trafficking
Diverted from the lawful supply chain, the products often come from main exporting countries to the Sahel region, including China, Belgium, France and India . Others are manufactured in neighbouring States. International operations saw greater than 605 tons of medical items seized in West The african continent, between January 2017 plus December 2021. Typically, these items travel through mainstream global trade channels, mainly simply by sea.
