In partnership with the Government of Liberia, the Brazzaville Foundation launches an initiative to stop importing and selling substandard medicines in Liberia and across Africa.
A renowned organization, Brazzaville Foundation, in partnership with the Government of Liberia, is ready to boost the health sector by launching a new initiative to track illicit drugs entering the country.
Mr. Jean-Yves Ollivier, founder, and chairman of the Brazzaville Foundation, recently met with President Boakai in an exclusive meeting at the Executive Mansion in Monrovia and expressed his Foundation's willingness to collaborate with other medical institutions in fighting illicit medicines that kill people in Liberia and across Africa.
The Head of the Brazzaville Foundation, Jean-Yves Ollivier, who recently met with President Boakai at the Executive Mansion to launch the new medical initiatives in Liberia, said the aim is to fight illicit drugs on the Liberian Market.
In an exclusive meeting with the Liberian Leader, the founder and chairman of the Brazzaville Foundation expressed his Foundation's willingness to collaborate with other medical institutions in fighting illicit medicines.
He said that illicit drugs are one of the causes of death in the sub-region, and as such, there's a need to stop the act.
Speaking to reporters at the Royal Grand Hotel in Sinkor, Monrovia, on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, Mr. Ollivier disclosed that his organization intends to fight illicit pharmaceutical drugs saturating the market in the sub-African region.
According to him, falsified and substandard medicines deprive African patients of affordable quality medicines.
He lamented that Africa is highly dependent on drug importation, as about 70 to 90% of medicines consumed in sub-Saharan Africa are imported, adding that all medicines are at risk of containing toxic or contaminated substances.
Mr. Ollivier furthered that illicit drugs pose a danger to Africa's social-economic and cause losses, noting that such things undermine the economies of African countries, particularly through money laundering, with the illegal drug market estimated to be worth $200 billion worldwide.
He emphasized that the effects of corrupt agents in the pharmaceutical supply chain raise awareness of the need for inter-ministerial action at the government level in all African countries and must have a coordinated plan between the public and private sectors and civil society actors to effectively fight trafficking.
He disclosed that his organization has put into prospective legislation to criminalize trafficking in falsified and substandard medicines and impose severe criminal sanctions on violators through government intervention.
To reach those international agreements, notably the MEDICRIME Convention to establish and carve the treaty establishing the African Medicines Agency has been launched.
He stressed that to respond to the challenges identified, member countries have been called upon to implement national plans to fight FSMs, which are structured around four complementary areas and two levers of action.
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He name the structured areas as Rule of Law, State Security, Economic Policy and Public Health, which he says will reduce trafficking in FSMs and criminal activities.
He added that his organization had identified five priority targets of the national plans to fight FSMs, saying these plans, when targeted, will focus on traffickers, women selling falsified medicines, women buyers, young people, and public opinion.
Meanwhile, in a brief response, President Boakai expressed his government's willingness and promised to work with the organization to fight and weed out illicit pharmaceutical products from Liberia. Editing by Jonathan Browne
