SENEGAL: Government earmarks funds to halt flood of illegal medicines

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

DAKAR, 6 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - Every day Saliou wanders around the suburbs of the Senegalese capital, Dakar, a one-man walking pharmacy.

In the small case he clutches lies an array of medicines. He has no chemical expertise or formal training for doling out the drugs. But he has been in the business long enough to make one evaluation -- whether a client will be able to afford a packet of tablets or just one individual pill.

A recent study carried out by the French pharmaceutical association Leem found that an estimated one in five people in Senegal turn to the black market for their medicines.

The problem is not unique to Senegal. The World Health Organisation reckons trade in counterfeit and sub-standard drugs is worth about US $32 billion worldwide.

Now, there are signs that Senegal's government is beginning to tackle the problem.

President Abdoulaye Wade's planned budget for 2006 includes 25 million CFA (US $48,000) to "promote generic medicines and strengthen inspections to control the illegal market."

Health experts say this is the first time the government has mentioned the existence of the pharmaceutical black market in an official document, but while they applaud this, they are also worried that the amount of funding will be a drop in the ocean.

"I think we're seeing the beginning of a change," said Mamadou Badiane, the head of the Office for Pharmacies and Laboratories, told IRIN.

He noted that trucks hailing from Nigeria and Gambia were intercepted in July and their cargo of unlicenced medicines was destroyed by the ministry of commerce. And while a television debate on the issue of black market drugs would have been unthinkable a couple of years ago, he recalls, one was held in December 2004 and experts got to say what they wanted to say.

"But 25 million that's not enough, it's even faintly ridiculous," Badiane said. "Because included in that figure is the cash to pay the employees here and we number 15."

Medicine mountain

At the Keur Serigne Bi, a building tucked away behind Dakar's main market, the scale of the illegal trade is clear to see.

Health experts refer to the place as a medicine mountain.

"This is the place where people who have no money come," said one vendor, who declined to be identified.

Here, a packet of antihistamine costs as little as 4,000 CFA (US $8), compared to 5,700 CFA ($11) in a licensed pharmacy. Antibiotics, anti-depressants and anti-retrovirals are also on sale more cheaply. Some have been stolen by petty thieves, others pillaged from central pharmaceutical stocks by pharmacists themselves.

And while the lower prices lure in cash-strapped Senegalese, many people are unaware of the gamble they are taking.

"The risks are numerous for consumers," said Babacar Thiam, a
doctor in the capital. "The medicines don't pass through the proper controls. They are kept in unsuitable places and even if the expiry date is ok then the poor conditions they're kept in can change the chemical properties."

Bakary Sambou, a doctor working for the World Health Organisation in Senegal, agrees.

"Sometimes you'll see them (the black market vendors) recounting any old rubbish. And people believe it," he said. "One day I saw someone who had simple bronchitis being given something to treat serious tuberculosis."

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