Djibouti launches war against counterfeit drugs

The Djibouti government has launched a war against counterfeit drugs after a new study disclosed an alarming situation in the country.

Djibouti's Justice Minister and current interim Prime Minister Moumin Ahmed Cheikh on Thursday convened an emergency inter-ministerial session to discuss the fight against counterfeit drugs.

According to an official source, the meeting was called following the release of results of a study on the problem in the country which was carried out by the Djibouti health ministry.

"The conclusions of the study were alarming and needed an immediate and appropriate response," Djibouti Health Minister Djama Elmi Okieh said.

Okieh noted that the situation constitutes a major concern for his ministry, but affirmed that inter-ministerial collaboration was necessary to effectively fight against proliferation of counterfeit drugs and poisoning of the population.

His position was shared by Djibouti's interim prime minister who called for harmonization of efforts to fight the scourge of counterfeit drugs.

"Sale of counterfeit drugs is a crime, and together we must firmly fight it," he insisted.

The study revealed that consumption of counterfeit drugs was leading to an increase in the number of deaths in Djibouti, while also putting a lot of pressure on the government's budget for the health sector.

The World Health Organization noted recently that with the growth of online trade, sale of counterfeit drugs is a matter of concern in all countries, but Africa remains the biggest victim of this global scourge.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration revealed recently that 10 percent of the drugs used in the world are counterfeit. The trade which is always categorized as organized crime, generated over 200 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 against 70 billion dollars in 2010, the U.S. agency said. Endit