Sudan Works to Fight Counterfeit Drugs

While ground zero in the fight against counterfeit drugs in Africa is typically thought to be Nigeria, many other African nations are doing their best to combat the efforts of unscrupulous individuals who deal in phony medicines, including Sudan.

The regional government of Southern Sudan is working to rid the area of counterfeit drugs, according to the Sudan Vision.

Officials are trying to battle this scourge through not only the high-tech solutions found in many countries but also through good, old-fashioned campaigning, such as warning residents about the dangers of counterfeit drugs through a giant megaphone attached to the top of vehicle, which recently roamed a major marketplace in Luonyaker, reports the news source.

Wol Kon Laau, the head of Yiik Adoor Primary Health Care Unit in Gogrial East County in the Warrap State, said that he has been dealing with counterfeit drugs for a long time.

“As a practitioner I have had examples to give. I encountered most of them when I was practicing as a medical student that certain drugs were brought into the system even in the normal delivery system which were of low quality and it even becomes worse with the drug peddlers who are going about villages killing people,” he told the news provider.

Laau is working to establish local health committees that could combat fake drugs by countering the claims of salesmen who say that they can cure everything from infertility to kidney disease.

The flagship committee is going to various places in the region and trying to find counterfeit drugs.

“With me in the committee we go on the market. We sample products, and we publish the results so that we can name and shame. We hope that within 18 months Southern Sudan in general and Warrap state in particular should be able to have very decent data on the extent of the quality problem in the area,” Laau told the news provider.

Laau adds that such research will give health experts and government officials better data to help them combat the serious problem of counterfeit drugs.

In addition, Laau says he hopes that his committee idea can be first extended to other counties in the Warrap State and then eventually to other states in Sudan.