When streets become pharmacies: Booming illicit markets in Central Africa
A new UN report reveals a massive surge in the illicit trade of medical products across Central Africa, with over 250 tonnes seized in six years. The report suggests that fragile health systems and lack of access to legitimate medicine drive this dangerous black market.
Why it matters
The proliferation of falsified and diverted drugs poses a severe public health risk and undermines regional healthcare infrastructure.
Antibiotics, malaria treatments, painkillers, opioids. More than 250 tonnes of medical products were seized over six years in Central Africa. Behind those numbers is an illicit market that thrives not simply despite the region’s fragile health systems, but in part because of them.
When medicines are scarce, unaffordable or simply too far away, illicit sellers have proved adept at filling the void.
That is the dynamic described in a new report released Tuesday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC ). The illicit trade extends far beyond falsified drugs. It includes genuine medicines diverted from legitimate supply chains, unapproved products and drugs smuggled across borders.
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