Creative Capsule Reflections – Fake Drugs in Kenya and Uganda
A story of the road, the body, and porous borders.
Jennifer Huxta is a Creative Capsule Resident working on an art and reportage project on the impact of fake drugs in Africa. Join her for the Creative Capsule Residency Showcase April 22, 2024 at noon Eastern. Register Here.
In November 2023, I returned to Kenya to research and report for my Creative Capsule Residency project about fake medicines.
The global trade in counterfeit medicines is worth approximately $200-432 billion per year. It is the fastest-growing criminal activity. Often manufactured in China or India, counterfeit medicines filter into the supply chain in sub-Saharan Africa, facilitated by corrupt officials at ports of entry: sea ports, airports, overland border posts. Organized Crime Groups (OCGs), often with their own shipping companies, transport these fake drugs across the sea.
As I began to put together the content gathered and organize my thoughts about this issue, I started making collages and maps.
Above, the background of this image is 400+ boxes of counterfeit Coartem, the most available and well-known anti-malarial medicine in the region. A World Health Organization-commissioned report estimates that 72,000-267,000 deaths per year are linked to fake malaria medicines in sub-Saharan Africa alone, and 500,000 worldwide. The fake Coartem was seized during Operation Porcupine in Lomé, Togo, a multi-agency effort with Interpol, Togolese customs agents, local police, and gendarmes and the Global Fund.
During Operation Porcupine, investigators also seized 9 tons of fake antibiotics, Tylenol, and cold and flu remedies worth over $200,000 from local pharmacies and warehouses. At a house where a group of Chinese nationals were stocking falsified Viagra, officials also seized cash (Chinese Yuan, US Dollars, CFA Francs, and Nigerian Naira) computers, hard drives, scales and other equipment.
In March, I traveled to Kampala, Uganda, to meet with the Anti-Counterfeit Network (ACN) and the National Drug Authority (NDA) about this issue. On March 8, the NDA completed a raid on a local medical supply company, arresting 11 individuals and seizing $100,000 worth of expired testing kits for malaria, HIV, and Hepatitis B. According to the NDA, the main problem in Kampala is tampering with medicines, in which expired generic drugs are repackaged into up-to-date boxes.
In Kampala, I met an investigator with ACN. We were in the car, windows up, AC on, going through Kampala, past the ministries on Nakasero Hill, traffic glare filtering through the tinted windows, as we talked.
“Why do you do this work?” I asked.
“I am passionate,” he replied. “A counterfeit is against humanity and we are trying to protect humanity.”
“Are you at risk for the work you do?”
“The counterfeiters threaten me.”
“How did you get involved? Is it personal?”
When his brother died of pancreatic cancer 10 years ago, after ineffectual treatment, he realized the scope of the problem of counterfeit medicines. “Some local herbs doctor” had prescribed a fake chemotherapy medicine mixed with an herbal remedy.
“So,” he said. “When it comes to fighting counterfeits, I go there all-heartedly.”
