It is worth noting that Africa’s heavy reliance on imported medication makes it easier for counterfeit drug rings to pass off their illicit products as genuine.
By Michael Akuchie
When an ill person takes medication, the expectation is that it will help them recover within a few days. But what happens when the drug purchased from a nearby pharmacy or even a hospital dispensary turns out to be counterfeit?
According to a paper published on ScienceDirect, fake medicine can have varying consequences for victims. In some cases, they may experience treatment failure, while in more severe instances, they could lose their lives.
Counterfeit drugs—substandard variants of genuine brands—are prevalent in Africa and other developing regions. Why is this the case? Many African countries have lax drug enforcement laws, resulting in a heavily unregulated healthcare sector.
At times, enforcement agencies are ill-equipped to verify every drug shipped from other parts of the world. Additionally, many African drug regulatory agencies have been known to accept kickbacks, allowing counterfeit drugs to pass through their countries’ ports without hindrance.
Africa relies heavily on drug imports, and this is a well-known fact. Last year, Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), revealed that 70 to 80% of the drugs on the continent are imported.
A report on COVID-19’s impact on Africa aptly documented the region’s excessive dependence on vaccine imports. Despite accounting for 18% of the world’s population, Africa produced only 1% of the vaccine doses needed to combat COVID-19, while 99% were shipped in from abroad.
It is worth noting that Africa’s heavy reliance on imported medication makes it easier for counterfeit drug rings to pass off their illicit products as genuine. Fake drugs thrive in Africa due to a combination of ignorance and inflation. For non-medical professionals, it is almost impossible to distinguish a counterfeit drug from a genuine one.
In most cases, substandard medication comes in identical packaging to the real drugs. Some medications include authentication pins that require users to scratch a silver panel to verify their authenticity. However, not everyone takes the time to do this, particularly in urgent medical situations.
There is also a lack of public awareness about how to identify fake drugs. Additionally, e-commerce plays a significant role in the proliferation of substandard medicines. Given the ease of setting up an online store, drug traffickers can reach a wider consumer base with their illicit products. Tracking an online seller is often difficult, especially when they do not provide an office address on their profile page.
The cost factor is another key issue. It is no longer news that many African countries are experiencing high inflation, an economic situation that reduces people’s purchasing power. This means consumers are more likely to opt for cheaper alternatives rather than well-known brands due to rising costs.
Many counterfeit drugs are sold at lower prices, making them more attractive to potential buyers. However, more buyers translate to increased cases of drug resistance, treatment failure, and even death.
As mentioned, consuming fake drugs can have various consequences, with death being the most tragic. As of 2023, counterfeit medication had killed nearly 500,000 people in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a United Nations report. The report also notes that most substandard medications are used to treat malaria and pneumonia, two of the deadliest diseases on the continent.
Fortunately, technology offers ways to combat counterfeit drugs. In addition to the standard authentication panel hidden beneath a silver coating on medicine packaging, drug enforcement agencies across Africa can introduce mobile drug verification websites.
Similar to what consumer technology brand JBL does, anyone purchasing medication should be able to take out their smartphone, scan a QR code, and visit a website to instantly verify the authenticity of their newly bought drug. The website should also include a reporting section where consumers can alert agencies to pharmacies or hospital dispensaries selling counterfeit drugs.
Hospitals and pharmacies can prevent fake drugs from reaching their shelves by leveraging AI technology. Take, for example, the AI-driven solution RX Scanner—the world’s first device to confirm a drug’s quality using AI and machine learning. RX Scanner enables hospitals and pharmacies to verify whether a new shipment of drugs is genuine. With a 99.9% accuracy rate, concerns about its performance should be minimal.
Drug enforcement agencies across Africa can also use the RX Scanner to screen imported medication at seaports. The more shipments of counterfeit drugs intercepted at points of entry, the lower the number of people likely to die from ingesting fake medication.
While these solutions sound promising on paper, most African countries would need to allocate a significant portion of their budgets to acquiring the necessary tools for combating counterfeit drugs. Additionally, drug enforcement agencies would need to organise seminars to train their staff on modern drug verification practices and the effective use of these tools.
Additionally, sensitisation on the dangers of buying and consuming fake drugs needs to be conducted on a larger scale. Governments should also strive to subsidise the cost of essential medicines and ensure their availability at primary healthcare facilities. This would enable people, especially those in rural areas, to access genuine medication at an affordable price.
Technology can be a powerful tool in the fight against counterfeit drugs in Africa. However, tackling this issue will require coordinated efforts from governments, drug enforcement agencies, hospitals, and pharmacies. African countries should also ramp up local drug production to foster healthy competition and reduce their dependence on imported medicines. Beyond curbing the spread of counterfeit drugs, increased local production can have a positive impact on the economy.
Michael Akuchie is a tech journalist with four years of experience covering cybersecurity, AI, automotive trends, and startups. He reads human-angle stories in his spare time. He’s on X (fka Twitter) as @Michael_Akuchie & michael_akuchie on Instagram.
Cover image credit: CNN