Trade : Priority On Human Health

Cameroon faces widespread public health and economic challenges from smuggled and counterfeited goods. According to the country’s Chamber of Commerce, Mines and Industry, financial losses incurred by the State are up to FCFA 255 billion annually in lost tax revenues. Similarly, enormous health damages are suffered by the population including loss of lives. The proliferation of counterfeited goods poses huge health risks. The goods range from pharmaceuticals (drugs), alcohol and beverages to even building materials. Smuggling or counterfeited narcotics, alcohol and other consumables remains a major public health concern. Concordant statistics indicate that about 40-45 per cent of pharmaceuticals in the local market are counterfeited or smuggled. This figure on the circulation of drugs alone, shows how counterfeited products are ubiquitous in the local market. Essential drugs of doubtful quality are peddled in every street corner while counterfeited alcohol including beer, whiskeys and other spirits are fabricated in neighbourhoods under very unclear circumstances. Even when goods are original, expired products are still being sold in the market by traders and shop keepers, endangering the health of consumers. Business operators should not only think of making profits but should rather prioritise human health. The situation of illicit and expired goods inundating local markets is further compounded by several reasons including porous borders, irregular controls by trade officials, complicity by some members of the society and corruption, among others. Between 2020 and late 2025, customs and health authorities seized nearly 8.7 billion worth of fake medicine as public health reports roughly FCFA 33 billion loss annually due to illicit pharmaceuticals. Though the government through its various services is waging a war against illicit and counterfeited goods, the phenomenon persists as traders wants to make brisk business even at the detriment of human health. Customs units just like the National Brigade for the Repression of Illicit Trade in the Ministry of Trade routinely confiscates volumes of illicit and expired goods, ranging from counterfeit whiskeys and tons of illegal medicines. Illicit, counterfeit, and expired goods, particularly falsified medicines and contraband medical products, severely impact Cameroon's health sector. They cause treatment failures, accelerate antimicrobial resistance, and poison citizens. The parallel, unregulated market thrives in communities, causing immense financial losses and eroding public trust in legitimate healthcare systems. Counterfeit products often lack active ingredients or contain dangerous, toxic chemicals which are most likely to cause harm to the human system. The World Health Organization estimates that substandard and falsified drugs are linked to hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths across Sub-Saharan Africa every year. Meanwhile, expired beverages, dairy products and canned goods often grow bacteria and toxins which leads to food poisoning. Fake alcohol on the other hand, contains chemicals like methanol which causes severe health issues like kidney failures, cancers, and blindness, among others, leading to death. Despite the health dangers, traders continue to put pirated and contraband goods of doubtful quality on the market. It is more shameful that even some supermarkets where standards and norms are supposed to be taken very seriously, also sell expired and c...