Nov
13
2025
Jul
17
2025
From Words to Action: Why Africa must unite behind GSDP and multi-stakeholder collaboration to tackle dangerous medicines
Across our beloved continent, there is a silent threat that continues to undermine public health, destroy trust in medicines, and steal lives - often quietly, and far from the spotlight. This is the growing presence of substandard and falsified medical products. These are not just poor-quality items; they are a serious danger to patients, a destabiliser of our health systems, and in many cases, a direct threat to national security. In recent years, I have been privileged to work in various corners of Africa - speaking to warehouse workers, regulators, nurses, customs officers, importers, and even market traders. Everywhere, the…
Jul
11
2025
Africa launches continental war against fake medicine as deaths soar to 267,000 annually
IN a groundbreaking move to combat a silent epidemic killing hundreds of thousands of Africans annually, the continent has launched its first-ever coordinated response to substandard and falsified medical products that claim up to 267,000 lives each year. The African Union Development Agency-NEPAD officially launched the African Working Group on Substandard and Falsified Medical Products (SFMP), following a three-day summit in Addis Ababa that brought together health regulators, policymakers, and experts from across the continent. The milestone represents Africa's most significant step yet in addressing a crisis that has undermined healthcare systems and cost the continent over $200 million annually…
Jul
11
2025
The six critical actions Africa must take to stop the deadly trade in fake, substandard medicines
THE time for half-measures and empty promises has passed. African governments must take immediate, decisive action to combat the proliferation of substandard and falsified medical products that are killing our children and bleeding our economies dry. Every year, 122,000 children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa die needlessly from substandard or falsified anti-malaria medication. Let that number sink in. These are not statistics - they are our children, our future, lost to a preventable crisis that demands urgent action. The World Health Organisation has directly linked 300 deaths in The Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan to contaminated batches of…
Jul
10
2025
“Africa must criminalise trade in substandard, fake medicines to stop deaths”
A leading African academic has called on governments across the Continent to take urgent and concrete steps to combat the proliferation of substandard and fake medicines, which have caused thousands of deaths and billions in economic losses across the continent. In a keynote address to the AUDA-NEPAD Working Group on Substandard and Falsified Medical Products (SFMPs), Professor Eliangiringa Kaale from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences called for criminalising the SFMP trade and implementing stiffer penalties, among other measures. Kaale emphasized that to secure Africa's medicine supply by 2030, the continent must properly finance national regulatory bodies and ratify…
Jul
09
2025
Chimwemwe Chamdimba: Africa’s champion against the $200-billion fake medicine crisis
ACROSS Africa, a deadly crisis unfolds in pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals every day. Counterfeit and substandard medicines - worth an estimated $200 billion globally - are poisoning treatment outcomes, causing preventable deaths, and devastating communities already struggling with inadequate healthcare access. This isn't just about economics; it's about survival. When a mother gives her child what she believes is life-saving medication, only to watch that child's condition worsen because the medicine contains chalk, toxic substances, or no active ingredients at all, the human cost becomes tragically clear. In this battle against an industry that preys on the most vulnerable, one…
Jul
08
2025
Africa’s war against fake medicines: a continental response to a growing crisis
IN the shadows of Africa's bustling pharmaceutical markets, a silent epidemic claims nearly half a million lives each year. The culprit is not a virus or bacteria, but something far more insidious: substandard and falsified medical products (SFMP) that masquerade as lifesaving treatments while delivering death instead. The statistics paint a devastating picture. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), trafficked medical products kill almost half a million sub-Saharan Africans every year. Behind these numbers lie the faces of children who died from fake malaria treatments, mothers who succumbed to ineffective antibiotics, and countless others whose…
Jul
07
2025
Africa launches continental war against fake medicines killing half a million annually
AFRICA is mobilising an unprecedented continental response to combat counterfeit and substandard medicines that kill nearly half a million people across the continent each year, with a crucial coordination meeting taking place in Ethiopia this week. The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) has convened experts from July 9-11 to finalise a comprehensive Continental Plan targeting criminal networks that exploit Africa's $200 billion fake medicine market - the world's most lucrative organised crime enterprise after drug trafficking. The meeting will be led by Chimwemwe Chandimba, leader of the Health and the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonisation Initiative of the AUDA-NEPAD. Chandimba is…
Nov
16
2025
Bridging continents, changing futures: how a new alliance wants to rewrite Africa’s oncology story
THE air in Mombasa, Kenya, was thick with the promise of change. It was November 2025, and the 7th Scientific Conference on Medical Product Regulation in Africa (SCoMRA) was in full swing. But this was more than just a conference; it was a continental convocation, a pivotal moment in Africa’s journey toward health sovereignty. The theme, “Regulatory Harmonisation: Unlocking Africa’s Potential in Health Product Manufacturing and Trade,” was a direct response to a stark, long-standing vulnerability: over 90% of the continent’s medicines are imported. The COVID-19 pandemic had brutally exposed the fragility of this dependence, turning external supply chains into…