Medicines in motion
An ethnographic exploration of the informal cross-border pharmaceutical trade in Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4589651 |
|---|---|
| Authors | K Hampshire (0000-0003-4184-849X, Durham University), Heather Hamill (0000-0002-0301-7057, University of Oxford), Simon Mariwah (0000-0003-0803-9746, University of Cape Coast), Samuel Asiedu Owusu (0000-0002-9249-6036, University of Cape Coast), Daniel Amoako-Sakyi (0000-0002-8028-188X, University of Cape Coast), Gerry Mshana (0000-0001-8753-7561, National Institute for Medical Research) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 382 |
| Pages | 118327 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Science & Medicine (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118327 |
| PMID | 40614592 |
| OpenAlex | W4411627467 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 29 |
The informal cross-border trade (ICBT) in medicines in Africa is an under-explored phenomenon, with potentially serious public health implications. We conducted ethnographic research (Dec 2022-Jan 2023) at two major border crossings in East and West Africa: between Ghana-Togo at Aflao/Lomé and Kenya-Tanzania at Namanga. Observations at strategic locations were complemented by informal interviews with traders, transporters, retailers, border officials and other stake-holders. Medicines were being transported informally across borders in substantial quantities, through small-scale and larger-scale operations, drawing in multiple actors. Generic pharmaceutical products were generally moving from low-cost, high-availability regimes to higher-cost, lower-availability ones, driven by customer demand for affordable medicines and facilitated by regulatory gaps and low-level corruption. Across the Ghana-Togo border, we observed a counter-movement of supplements and sexual/body enhancers. Medicine flows reflect cross-border disparities in pharmaceutical availability, pricing and regulation, rooted in colonial histories and contemporary economic realities. This trade is an understandable response to the lack of affordable essential medicines and livelihood insecurities. However, it also poses significant public health and pharmaceutical governance risks, disproportionately affecting the poorest
Ethnography · Motion (physics · Political science · Sociology · Anthropology · Computer Science · HIV/AIDS Impact and Responses · Medicine · Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy · Pharmaceutical Quality and Counterfeiting · Artificial Intelligence
Antimalarial stocking decisions among medicine retailers in Ghana
Antimalarial procurement in private-sector pharmaceutical outlets
Substandard and falsified antibiotics
TRIPS, the Doha declaration and paragraph 6 decision
The Street-Level Epistemology of Trust
Knowledge, legitimacy and economic practice in informal markets for medicine
Informal mhealth at scale in Africa
Essential drugs for ration kits in developing countries
Informal Trade Routes and Security along the Aflao-Lomé Border Region (Ghana-Togo)
The Hoods
Managing uncertainty in medicine quality in Ghana
Where do pharmaceuticals on the market originate? An analysis of the informal drug supply in Cotonou, Benin
Pharmaceutically-Made Men
Yearning for Lightness
From Drug Safety to Drug Security
Be your product
Fakeness, Human-Object Fluidity and Ethnic Suspicion on the Kenyan Pharmaceutical Market
Countering the logics of war in global health policy
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |