Africa in general, and Senegal in particular, are heavily dependent on the rest of the world for their pharmaceutical supplies. Africa is home to 17.2% of the world’s population in 2020, but only accounts for 3% of global pharmaceutical production (375 manufacturers in 37 African countries, compared to 5,000 in India and 10,500 pharmaceutical companies in China, for example) (CENUA, 2019).
Access to essential medicines is a right recognized as universal by the international community. However, there is a huge gap between this right and the reality of the global pharmaceutical market. Indeed, the Covid-19 pandemic, with its containment measures, posed serious pharmaceutical supply problems for the entire African continent. By 2020, the main exporters of pharmaceutical products to Africa (the EU, India, Switzerland, China and the USA) had imposed export bans and/or factory closures, resulting in higher prices and, due to the drop in air traffic, higher transport costs.
