WAEMU experts meet in Lomé to discuss how to better tackle the illicit trade of veterinary drugs

Health

Wednesday, 20 April 2022 17:19

WAEMU experts meet in Lomé to discuss how to better tackle the illicit trade of veterinary drugs

(Togo First) - The animal health inspectors of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) are working on new strategies to tackle the illicit sale of veterinary drugs in the region. The inspectors are gathered in Lomé for their annual meeting for assessing veterinary drugs market sanitation campaigns (CAMMVET). The four-day workshop, which started on 19 April 2022, is an initiative of the WAEMU Commission.

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"In the framework of pharmacovigilance, the WAEMU commission in charge of the registration of veterinary drugs has decided to wage a continuous and relentless fight against fake veterinary drugs," said Kako Nubukpo, WAEMU Commissioner for Agriculture, Water Resources and Environment. "If our efforts to subject the entry of veterinary pharmaceuticals to a marketing authorization ends up with no verification mechanism on the ground, all our efforts would have been in vain," he added.

According to data presented by the Commissioner, 50 to 70% of veterinary products consumed in Africa "do not pass through authorized channels."

In addition to taking stock of veterinary drugs circulating across the WAEMU, and assessing sanitation campaigns conducted between 2018 and 2021, experts will harmonize new actions to be implemented as part of efforts to tackle the illegal sale of drugs in the Union.

Since 2014, seven sanitation campaigns have been financed by the WAEMU Commission for all eight countries of the Union, representing a total cost of 587.7 million FCFA.

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