Central Africa Faces Growing Threat From Fake and Trafficked Medicines
Story By Staff Reporter
The UN warned on Tuesday that central Africa faces a serious public health threat from medicine trafficking. The trade is growing because many people cannot get safe, affordable medicines.
A gap between need and access
The six countries of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) have high rates of tuberculosis, malaria and HIV. Yet treatment and quality medicines are often scarce or too costly. A new report says this “fuels the development of an illicit market for medical products.” The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and CEMAC produced the report.
Traffickers divert prescription drugs from regulated supply chains and national health programme stocks. They also sell medicines that are counterfeit, substandard or unapproved. These include antibiotics, antimalarials, painkillers and anti-inflammatories. They also include psychoactive drugs such as tramadol and pregabalin.
Between 2020 and 2025, authorities seized at least 251 tonnes of medicines. The seizures took place in Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Preventable deaths
UNODC called the trafficking “a major threat to public health.” It said the trade causes treatment failures, poisonings and avoidable deaths. Illicit medicines sometimes reach official health facilities. Patients usually see these facilities as safe.
The scale is large across sub-Saharan Africa. In 2017, WHO estimated that fake or substandard antimalarials could be linked to 72,000 to 267,000 deaths a year. It also said poor-quality antibiotics for childhood pneumonia could be linked to up to 169,271 deaths annually.
How the drugs move
Most trafficked medicines enter through sea and river ports. Others arrive by air, as freight or in passengers’ luggage. Traffickers then move them inland along major trade roads.
UNODC said the illicit trade “fuels organised crime and weakens public institutions.” It also promotes recreational use of addictive drugs. In the CAR, armed groups profit from the trade. They loot health centres and charge “taxes” on shipments crossing their territory.
Late last month, customs officers in Gabon seized 17,000 tramadol tablets. They blamed cross-border narcotics traffickers from neighbouring Cameroon.
Reporting based on original coverage by Africa News.
