The United Nations has warned that countries in Central Africa are facing a major public health threat from the trafficking of medicines, driven by limited access to safe and affordable healthcare products.
In a new report, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the World Health Organisation and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community said the six CEMAC countries have a high prevalence of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria and HIV.
The report said inadequate access to affordable and safe medicines was fuelling the illicit market for medical products across the region.
Traffickers reportedly divert prescription drugs from regulated supply chains and national health programme stocks while also distributing counterfeit, substandard or unapproved medicines.
The products include antibiotics, anti-malarial drugs, painkillers, anti-inflammatory medicines and psychoactive substances such as tramadol and pregabalin.
At least 251 tonnes of medicines were seized in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon between 2020 and 2025, according to the report.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime said the illicit trade constitutes a major public health threat, resulting in treatment failures, poisoning and preventable deaths.
It also warned that illicit medicines sometimes enter legitimate healthcare facilities, which patients generally consider safe.
According to the report, the World Health Organisation estimated in 2017 that falsified or substandard anti-malarial medicines could be associated with between 72,000 and 267,000 deaths annually in sub-Saharan Africa. Poor-quality antibiotics used to treat childhood pneumonia were also estimated to be linked to as many as 169,271 deaths each year.
The report said most trafficked medicines enter Central Africa through sea and river ports or by air, either as freight or in passengers’ luggage, before being distributed to inland areas through major trade routes.
The UNODC said the illicit trade also fuels organised crime, weakens public institutions and contributes to the recreational use of addictive psychoactive substances.
In the Central African Republic, armed groups reportedly make money by looting health centres and imposing taxes on shipments passing through territories under their control.
Meanwhile, customs officials in Gabon seized 17,000 tramadol tablets late last month, which they attributed to cross-border drug traffickers from neighbouring Cameroon.