UNODC report: Alarming figures for medicines that kill in sub-Saharan Africa

- Every year, 270,000 people die in sub-Saharan Africa as a result of consuming substandard, falsified antimalarial drugs.

- Up to 50% of medicines in Sahelian countries are substandard or falsified.

- At least 605 tons of falsified or substandard medical products were seised between 2017 and 2021 in the region.

The medicines concerned are taken out of the supply chain from Europe and, to a lesser extent, from China and India. They often pass through the seaports of Guinea, Ghana, Benin and Nigeria before being transported to the Sahel.

To learn more, check out the infographic "the effects of corruption on the supply chain" mapped by Brazzaville Foundation.

The vulnerability of Sahelian countries to this trafficking also stems from the high import rate of medical products and the lack of local pharmaceutical industries. Of total pharmaceutical spending in sub-Saharan Africa in 2019, imports accounted for up to 70-90%. The establishment of the African Drug Agency, based in Rwanda, is one response to this health and security challenge.

On 18 January 2020, in Lomé, Togo, the Republic of Niger committed itself to the fight against trafficking by signing the political declaration of the Lomé Initiative against medicines that kill. The signatory countries of the initiative (Congo-Brazzaville, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, Togo and Uganda) as well as the Brazzaville Foundation and its partners continue their efforts to put an end to this deadly scourge.

In 2022, the Republic of Togo has volunteered to launch a a pilot project to draw up and implement a national plan to combat FSM , and to model the methodology for adapting it in other countries taking part in the initiative.