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Encouraging quality medicines in Ghana
15 May 2008
By Caroline Boateng in Accra
Image courtesy of Sven Torfinn/Panos Pictures
Men weave in and out of the jam of buses and minibuses in Accra's Circle
Lorry Station, the main transport hub of the Ghanaian capital. The men carry
transparent polythene bags packed with medicines.
One of the vendors, Abu Bakari, aged about 30, tries to attract the interest of passengers who are waiting for their bus to set off.
"How much is your paracetamol?" I ask, to get his attention.
He immediately turns towards me, seeing an opportunity for a sale.
"It is 10 pesewas," he says. A pesewa is one-hundredth of a cedi, and a cedi is worth about a dollar. The daily minimum wage in Ghana is 2.25 cedis.
I get him to move away from the blaring microphones used by the drivers to announce their routes.
Pushing paracetamol
"OK, tell me, apart from paracetamol, what other painkillers do you have?"
"Rapinol (a medicine for colds), Ibrufen, Asprin, Efpac," he replies. "But what's wrong with you? When did the headache start? Do you feel nauseous or dizzy?"
I tell him I have a headache and he suggests that, since there are no other symptoms, the paracetamol will be fine. But what if I had the symptoms you mentioned, I ask.
"Then I would have suspected that you might have some other ailment that was showing itself as a headache."
Bakari explains that he gets his supplies of medicine from the sales representatives of local and international drug manufacturers in the Central Business District (CBD). He mentions Kinapharma, Ernest Chemist, M&J Pharmaceuticals and Phyto-Riker.
"I have a solid source of supply of drugs from suppliers in the CBD, and I make my purchases based on the drugs that my clients most often ask for."
An unlicensed service
Image courtesy of Rob Huibers/Panos Pictures
Among the sizeable cache of tablets, capsules and creams arranged neatly in
his polythene bag are antibiotics such as amoxicillin, flucoxacillin, and
cloxacillin, as well as painkillers.
He says that half his clients come to him describing symptoms, while the other half come asking for specific drugs.
"In all cases, I take my time to probe further and suggest a drug that will work. Some get offended and walk off, but others are receptive to my probing, and that sometimes develops into friendship. These clients-turned-friends come looking out for me at the station whenever they come by."
"But are you a licensed chemical or drug seller?" I ask.
"No, but I have done this job for five years and I am familiar with common symptoms of ailments. People here mainly suffer from malaria, with symptoms like body aches, headaches and the like.
"I also learn a lot from the suppliers. I just completed basic school and can read a little, but when I do not understand, I ask questions. I sometimes suggest drugs to my clients and they come back, thanking me."
Fighting the fake drugs trade
Most of Accra's unlicensed salesmen get their sources from suspicious suppliers, though they would not admit it. Their medicines sell for roughly the same prices as drugs sold in shops. If the price is lower, the drug may be a fake.
Earlier this year, Vice President Aliu Mahama challenged the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana to step up the fight against fake and sub-standard drugs.
In April, the Society responded with the Ask Your Pharmacist campaign. This encouraged people to direct their enquiries about drugs to accredited pharmacists, and to buy from them, rather than unlicensed vendors.
A film, If Symptoms Persist, was screened at the launch of the campaign. In it, Dr Alex Dodoo, the Society’s president, and Dr. Ferdinand Tay, President of the Consumers Association of Ghana, warned about the consequences of leaving the fake drugs menace unchecked.
It is the belief of the Society, says Dr Dodoo, that "anyone in the profession must be regulated and controlled for best practices. If we allow unlicensed drug peddlers to continue, it affects people's health. The common man who needs a drug and buys from them (the unlicensed vendors) does not know the difference between a pharmacist and someone who is just selling drugs."
Deputy Health Minister Gladys Ashitey has emphasised the Government’s determination to ensure that medicines sold in the country are of top quality. She says the Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) will help find ways of removing blockages to people’s access to quality drugs.
Note for editors
The newly launched Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) will bring together government, business and civil society to share information and analysis about the problems around the supply of medicines in Ghana, including their quality, availability, price and promotion, and work together to explore possible solutions. This is part of a global effort, initially funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank to encourage greater transparency and accountability around the procurement, supply and use of medicines. MeTA will work initially in seven pilot countries – Ghana, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, the Philippines, Uganda, and Zambia.
For further information, please contact:
MeTA Secretariat, 112 Malling Street, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 2RJ, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0) 1273 486861; Fax: +44 (0) 1273 478485. E-mail: info@metasecretariat.org.
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