The
surge in the widespread proliferation of counterfeit drugs mostly in the porous
borders of West Africa is growing by the day. It is an indisputable fact that
the international trade in fake medicines, which rakes in billions of dollars a
year, is estimated to harm hundreds of thousands of people every year.
It
is reported in Yesterday’s news that Customs officials at the country’s border village of Naymanar
have taken into custody a 45-year-old Guinean national who tried to smuggle
fake drugs into the country.
We
therefore, commend the regional customs officials alongside medical control
agencies for their high sense of professionalism and duty to serving their dear
nation.
What
is clear is that war on counterfeit drugs calls for multi-faceted approach and
combined forces to stem the flow of bad drugs from our society.
Smuggling
of counterfeit drugs into The Gambia was illegal for her, as she was not
licensed to import medicines into the country under the provision of medicine
laws.
Annually,
the distribution of fake medicines through our porous borders continue
un-noticed and in most cases channels that circumvent detection from national
regulatory authorities. The global trade in fake medicines is always on the
rise.
The
challenges faced by many in low-income countries seeking anti-malarial drugs
from their community pharmacies or the black market are different from the
threats posed by counterfeit versions of fentanyl-laced pills sold by
traffickers to satiate demand from.
There
is need for sustained and coordinated action, strengthening law enforcement,
legal and judicial capacity, and long-term investment in anti-counterfeiting
measures, pharmaco vigilance, and leveraging advances in digital technology
such as block chain and machine learning for supply chain data provenance and
analysis.
These
efforts to enhance the resilience of the global drug supply chain must be
carried out by inclusive and genuine partnerships, with the WHO leading from a
public health standpoint and openly partnering with other international
organizations, such as the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, the World
Customs Organization, and Interpol, to engage all sectors that can help in the
fight against fake medical products.
Let’s
all be vigilant and stand against the proliferation of counterfeit drug in our
dear motherland!
“Punishment
for putting patients at risk ought to reflect the gravity of manufacturing,
distributing or selling counterfeit medications.”
Gene
Green
