Clip the wings of big Pharma, our people need drugs

Clip the wings of big Pharma, our people need drugs

That the pharmaceutical industry occupies a central position in the lives of East African citizens is readily evident everywhere one turns: From the many pharmacies at every street corner to the sick and dying in homes and hospitals. That such a critical sector touching on matters of life and death would suffer any neglect is unimaginable, yet that seems to be the case today.

Indeed, affordable pharmaceutical products are a key component determining the success of any country’s health sector. A visit to any major public health facility in the region is likely to reveal the frustrations that doctors and other health personnel – and patients of course – go through because of the shortage of drugs, syringes and other basic equipment.

Indeed, a lot of deaths in our communities occur due to this lack of basic drugs and facilities. Quite often, patients are forced to buy drugs and even injections outside the public health system. This is a dangerous situation, especially when dealing with acute emergency situations or where patients are too poor to afford the cost of drugs at private facilities.

Of course, the problem is exacerbated by corruption in the procurement system. The health sector is one of the major cash cows in our governments, whereby well-connected businessmen conspire with government bureaucrats to fleece the public of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds through the purchase of substandard or even non-existent drugs and medical supplies.

But part of the problem also has to do with the international patenting system, which protects the interests of international pharmaceutical firms at the expense of the sick. While the effort put into research and development of drugs must no doubt be rewarded, it is immoral to profiteer at the expense of human life.

This is why some countries have ignored patents on such matters and gone ahead to produce generic drugs for their populations. In India, for example, the government believes that the prices of lifesaving drugs should not be left to market forces. East Africa must similarly act in its own best interest.

This is why it is so refreshing to learn that a regional conference has resolved that the the East African Community (EAC) and the Federation of East African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (FEAPM) should prepare a list of essential medicines that can be produced within the region. The region will then undertake classification and import restrictions for these finished pharmaceutical products based on regional capacity and quality audits of local manufacturer.

Indeed, this is a move that ought to have been undertaken a long time ago. Still, the resolution by the 1st International High Level Multi-Stakeholders Conference on Promoting Pharmaceutical Sector Investments in the EAC held in Nairobi at the beginning of November forms an important point of departure from past policies.

The proof of the pudding, of course, will be in the implementation of this and other policies arrived at during the forum. All too often, our governments have bent over backwards to accommodate foreign interests at the expense of the citizenry. Naturally, giant pharmaceutical firms – which have controlled the market in the region – will not easily give up their control and hence profit margins.

Indeed, multinational firms today control a large portion of the daily lives of East Africans, not only in the pharmaceutical sector but in all important industries. The seeds that farmers plant, the pesticides they use (which are mostly poisonous and responsible for the increased prevalence of lifestyle diseases), and even the processed foods we eat are all controlled by international firms. This has been largely to the detriment of local populations, who can do little in the circumstances since important decisions that affect them negatively are made with the connivance of their political leaders.

While multinational corporations claim to offer superior and beneficial products, this is not always true. The main interest of these organizations is the bottom, as evidenced by the continued ban on medical cannabis by many countries around the world at the instigation of the pharmaceutical industry. A number of countries, including Western countries, have now acknowledged the curative properties of marijuana and legalized it for purposes of research and medicine.

Hopefully, East African countries will now take charge of their own destiny and stop pandering to the interests of Western multinationals. The Nairobi conference could only have been a beginning, albeit an important one.

Via EANA

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