Fight against sub-standard, falsified medicines and health products intensifies |31 January 2023
The opening session of the meeting yesterday
Legal experts gather in Seychelles to develop reference manual
A group of expert from Africa is gathering in Seychelles as of yesterday to develop a reference manual on sub-standard and falsified medicines and health products, as part of the MEDISAFE project funded by the European Union.
The five-day meeting at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay hotel was officially launched yesterday afternoon by the Seychelles’ Minister for Health, Peggy Vidot.
It is seeing the participation of local and international legal experts to discuss the formulation of the reference manual in a bid to support the fight against organised crime related to the production and trafficking of sub-standard and falsified medicines and health products (SFMHP) and to achieve better public health outcomes primarily in eleven countries in Eastern and Central Africa and in Africa.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines falsified medicines as medical products whose identity, composition or source are misrepresented, whether deliberately or fraudulently. It says that sub-standard and falsified medicines constitutes 10% of the world’s medicine market. This figure rises to 30% in sub-Saharan Africa.
When addressing the participants, Minister Vidot said substandard, falsified medicines and products that are produced and trafficked with deliberate and fradulent misrepresentation of their nature, pose serious threats to public health and public security around the world, especially in Africa.
She said these medicines used by unsuspected patients is likely to cause serious adverse reactions, toxicity, and therapeutic failure and may lead to death.
“Vaccines and medicines save lifes, reduce suffering, and help to stop epidemics and pandemics, we therefore need them to be safe and of required standard,” said the minister.
Minister Vidot said when these are sold on the market, it leads to a loss of confidence in medications, in care providers and in the health services, which has a negative impact on participation in preventive health programmes.
“At the community level, there is increased antibiotic resistance, increased risk of transmission of infectious diseases, ineffective prophylaxis and preventable mortality,” stated Minister Vidot.
Speaking to the local media, chief pharmacist, Lucille De Comarmond, who is the focal person for MEDISAFE, said Seychelles decided to take part in the project because as a small country, it did not have the expertise to combat falsified medicines on its own.
“We know it is a global village and they can enter the country, through our distribution or they are brought in and sold on the local market or online. For example we know that Viagra is entering the country illegally and is being sold as a recreational medicine. So we depend on other organisations to help us in this fight,” said Ms De Comarmond.
Other than Seychelles, MEDISAFE’s initiative, which started in 2018, involves 10 other countries in eastern and central Africa, namely Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Seychelles has already benefited through a workshop in 2018 targeting custom and police officers, who were trained on how to detect and investigate falsified medicines and identify gaps at the ports of entry. A second one was held in 2019 where medical personnel from state and private pharmacies learned how to detect falsified medicines and how the market works.
The country’s pharmaceutical and legal experts, namely Corinne Ryan and Pascal Morin respectively, were later appointed in 2020 to assist with the development of a national action plan to combat falsified medicine.
Ms De Comarmond said, similar to other countries, Seychelles’ biggest challenge is the legal framework, where those who are caught trafficking counterfeit medicines receive minor penalties. Under Seychelles’ Pharmacy Act 1976, Adulteration of medicines, imposes a fine not exceeding five hundred rupees.
“You cannot do anything unless you have a very good legal framework and this reference manual we are discussing as of today, will help the country to develop a very good legal framework. You need to have a very good reference for the prosecutors so there is a good outcome,” said Ms De Comarmond.
She added the meeting was also important since Seychelles has adopted the African Union Model Law on medical products and ratified to be part of the African Medicines Agency, a specialised agency of the African Union dedicated to assisting member States in improving their capacities to regulate medical products and health technologies.
It should be noted that although MEDISAFE targets 11 countries, it plans to eventually share the reference manual to the whole African continent.
The expert group meeting ends on Friday.
Patsy Canaya
