African Leaders Take Up Fight Against Fake Drugs, Try to Save Many Children’s Lives

Fake versions of medicines are commonly sold in Africa, claiming the lives of 120,000 children each year. To end this malpractice, the continent’s leaders are now collaborating on an initiative that criminalizes the trafficking of such falsified drugs.

A WHO report reveals that 42% of the world’s substandard and fake medicines come from Africa alone. But the Lomé Initiative – coordinated by UK NGO Brazzaville Foundation and launched last month in Togo – will see a new legislation that advances a minimum 10-year jail term for offenders of fake drug trafficking and sales.

“Fake medicine has often been regarded as a violation of intellectual property right, and not a crime,” says Togo’s president Faure Gnassingbé, adding that making it a criminal offense will discourage traffickers from the unethical activity.

Those committing to the initiative include the heads of states of Togo, Senegal, Uganda, Ghana, Congo, Niger and The Gambia, as well as global public health partners and non-governmental organizations.