Why the Gambia Banned Paracetamol Importation? | The African Exponent.

The Gambia has announced the suspension of importation and sales of paracetamol syrups. The country declared its decision on the paracetamol syrups’ sales and imports until authorities conclude investigations.

Within the past couple of months, there has been an increase in the number of child mortality cases with traces of paracetamol syrups in the country.

According to the health service director of the country, Mustapha Bittaye, autopsies conducted on over a dozen children between the ages of 1 and 5 who have died within the last three months “suggest the possibility of paracetamol.”

Reports also claim that the increased deaths have followed kidney injuries in children who took paracetamol syrups to treat fevers, which has led doctors to suspect a direct link. This has prompted the government to place an indefinite ban on the importation of paracetamol syrup and order an investigation.

Over the years, there has been a problem with counterfeit drugs across the African continent. So, this is not a problem that is unique to the Gambia, as the continent, especially West Africa, continues to battle a long-running fight to eliminate a high prevalence of drug counterfeiting.

However, through the ban on importation and sales of the drug, the government hopes to tackle the problem from the source.

Across the world, 4 in 10 seized counterfeit drugs are in Africa, and about a third of medicines sold in some parts of Africa are fake, per the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC). The counterfeiting menace has affected everything from oral medicines to meningitis vaccines in Niger.

Some of the issues associated with drug counterfeiting in Africa include fake drugs being cheap to buy. Many different types of drugs can be bought over-the-counter without a prescription, and also, there is the difficulty consumers have in spotting and buying original products. Innovative health tech startups are beginning to provide some solutions to this effect, even if most of the early players are still building roots and fine-tuning sustainable business models in Nigeria and Ghana.

In the Gambia, poor healthcare delivery is complicated by a poverty rate above 40%. The government has received over $100 million in World Bank grants since 2020 to improve sustainable care, but results are yet to match expectations going by the evidence of the suspected paracetamol deaths.

Counterfeit is a world spread phenomenon in which the product of someone, company, or individual, is imitated to reproduce the original, although often made with materials and components of reduced quality and illegally bearing a trademark or copyright of another without their permission.

Africa, unfortunately, but not surprisingly, is one of the most affected continents, comprehensible since its markets have become a huge target for second-generation goods, with a major focus on pharmaceutical drugs.

The World Health Organization (hereinafter, WHO) stated that 42% of all fake medicine reported to them between 2013 and 2017 was linked to the African continent, and we expect that these numbers fall short of accuracy since the report system to the WHO relies on national or regional regulatory authorities which means the data is only as good as the national reporting systems are, which probably means the situation is far worse than the one reported.

What are your thoughts? 

Sources: QZ, Pharmaceutical Technology, Inventa

 The Gambia has announced the suspension of importation and sales of paracetamol syrups. The country declared its decision on the paracetamol syrups’ sales and imports until authorities conclude investigations.

Within the past couple of months, there has been an increase in the number of child mortality cases with traces of paracetamol syrups in the country.

According to the health service director of the country, Mustapha Bittaye, autopsies conducted on over a dozen children between the ages of 1 and 5 who have died within the last three months “suggest the possibility of paracetamol.”

Reports also claim that the increased deaths have followed kidney injuries in children who took paracetamol syrups to treat fevers, which has led doctors to suspect a direct link. This has prompted the government to place an indefinite ban on the importation of paracetamol syrup and order an investigation.

Over the years, there has been a problem with counterfeit drugs across the African continent. So, this is not a problem that is unique to the Gambia, as the continent, especially West Africa, continues to battle a long-running fight to eliminate a high prevalence of drug counterfeiting.

However, through the ban on importation and sales of the drug, the government hopes to tackle the problem from the source.

Across the world, 4 in 10 seized counterfeit drugs are in Africa, and about a third of medicines sold in some parts of Africa are fake, per the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC). The counterfeiting menace has affected everything from oral medicines to meningitis vaccines in Niger.

Some of the issues associated with drug counterfeiting in Africa include fake drugs being cheap to buy. Many different types of drugs can be bought over-the-counter without a prescription, and also, there is the difficulty consumers have in spotting and buying original products. Innovative health tech startups are beginning to provide some solutions to this effect, even if most of the early players are still building roots and fine-tuning sustainable business models in Nigeria and Ghana.

In the Gambia, poor healthcare delivery is complicated by a poverty rate above 40%. The government has received over $100 million in World Bank grants since 2020 to improve sustainable care, but results are yet to match expectations going by the evidence of the suspected paracetamol deaths.

Counterfeit is a world spread phenomenon in which the product of someone, company, or individual, is imitated to reproduce the original, although often made with materials and components of reduced quality and illegally bearing a trademark or copyright of another without their permission.

Africa, unfortunately, but not surprisingly, is one of the most affected continents, comprehensible since its markets have become a huge target for second-generation goods, with a major focus on pharmaceutical drugs.

The World Health Organization (hereinafter, WHO) stated that 42% of all fake medicine reported to them between 2013 and 2017 was linked to the African continent, and we expect that these numbers fall short of accuracy since the report system to the WHO relies on national or regional regulatory authorities which means the data is only as good as the national reporting systems are, which probably means the situation is far worse than the one reported.

What are your thoughts?

Sources: QZ, Pharmaceutical Technology, Inventa