Harare, Zimbabwe – It is possible to buy almost anything on the Hopley market, an informal colony south of this capital: Rat poison, Vadrouilles – same medication.
This medication is sold without a prescription, to buyers who have no diagnosis of a doctor in hand. Some sellers even offer diagnoses to their customers, even if they have no medical training. And in many cases, the drug is false. At any time, the police could dive for a raid. The sellers keep the drug out of sight and the buyers know who to ask.
Gladys Chihozhwa buys contraceptive pills from one of them and even turns to sellers for diagnoses when she is sick. She knows that drugs could be expired, even false. This does not dissuade her.
“I buy them because they are cheap,” she says.
Zimbabwe is overwhelmed by counterfeit drugs, driven by the expansion of informal markets and the demand of consumers of cheaper products. The police regularly put pharmaceutical products. In a single example, the Zimbabwe drug control authority in January discovered counterfeit vaccines against rage in circulation. Their packaging imitated that of legitimate imports from India, a large supplier of Zimbabwe medicine.
The way of vaccines to the market remains clear, but some products are pouring into the informal markets of Zimbabwe through its borders that fuvert with Zambia, where drugs counterfeit from India are easily available and cheap.
The consequences of this trade can be fatal. According to a 2022 United Nations Drug Office report and crimeIn sub -Saharan Africa only, counterfeit drugs kill just over a quarter of a million people each year.
Even when they are not immediately deadly, they can cause long -term damage, including the increase in antibiotic resistance, explains Dr. Grant Marewanhema, a public health expert.
In a written response, public relations agent Davison Kaiyo said that Medines Control Authority of Zimbabwe tried to solve this problem by performing raids with the police and intercepting counterfeit drugs. They also perform regular inspections in pharmacies. Persons captured are continued and the drugs confiscated, he said.
But the demand is high, so the new expeditions continue to flow.
A global problem
The distribution of false and lower quality drugs is a global and very profitable criminal business. A 2020 Study by the Pacific Research Institute estimated that the counterfeit medication market is worth between $ 200 billion and $ 431 billion per year.
Many counterfeit drugs are produced in India, where a mixture of manufacturers of highly renowned drugs and unregulated producers creates serious challenges for quality monitoring and control.
Africa is particularly affected. According to the World Health Organization, 42% of cases of counterfeit medical products and counterfeit and lower quality medical products between 2013 and 2017 were in Africa.
In Zimbabwe, porous borders facilitate movement, but a combination of other factors feeds trade. Economic problems of several decades in the country have left the health care system suspended by a thread. Many public hospitals simply have no medication supplies, explains Portifa Mwendera, a 25 -year -old pharmacist. Most of the time, patients receive prescriptions and have been informed of obtaining the drug elsewhere, he said.
But Zimbabwe only produces 30% of its essential drugs. The rest is imported and expensive in pharmacies. Many people in the country are too attached to money, and these sellers offer easier options in the pocket, says Mwendera.
Cross -border trade
Sanudi, a cross -border truck driver, has smuggling medicine in the country for two decades thanks to the Chirundu Border Post, a key business and a travel point between Zambia and Zimbabwe. He knows many other truckers who do the same. Sanudi asked Global Press Journal to use his second first name for fear of arrest.
It’s easy, he said. On the border, if the bag is small, it leaves it with a security guard while the truck is digitizing. He pays the goalkeeper of US $ 50 at US $ 60, then invoices merchants about $ 200 $ 200 to transport two small bags. If the sending is too large to hide with the guards, he simply welded the civil servants scanning the trucks.
“It is a risky operation, but I do it for the additional money that I get,” he says.
Global Press Journal contacted Zimbabwe officials returned Authority, but they did not respond to interview requests.
‘I always take the risk’
Gozo, a seller who also asked Global Press Journal to use a single name for fear of arrest, sells pharmaceutical products without license and offers diagnoses. Once the customer describes his symptoms, Gozo says she knows what to sell them. Two years in this business have sufficiently equipped it, she says, in particular in the prescription of antibiotics.
“The people I sell the drug to improve,” she says.
Antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin are popular in its stand, and many of them come from a supplier who obtains them from Zambia. Ten antibiotic pills go for US $ 1 to its stand. In approved pharmacies, the cost can be twice as much.
If it is arrested, it could face high fines or even a prison sentence. Police make raids on the market from time to time, but sellers as they depend on this business to earn a living.
“I always take the risk,” she said.