Africa is pouring money into pharmaceutical manufacturing as governments seek to reduce dependence on imported medicines. The bigger challenge may be finding enough buyers to keep the factories running. About 70% to 80% of medicines consumed in Africa are imported, according to the Access to Medicine Foundation. The continent also relies on overseas suppliers for…
In South Africa, the debate about protecting young people from drugs is increasingly raising a different question: are current policies actually helping those who need support most? Charity Monareng, Executive Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy International, said answering that question requires looking beyond prevention and asking whether young people have meaningful access to…
New York — Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife asked a judge on Wednesday to dismiss the drug trafficking indictment against them on the grounds that they have immunity as the leader and first lady of a foreign country. In papers filed in Manhattan federal court, lawyers for Maduro said a judge was…
The apparent rise of trafficking by older adults could reflect a new criminal adaptation rather than individual criminality. Adults aged 50 and over are becoming more visible in West African drug operations, although data availability and official understandings of this phenomenon vary across states. Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) website suggests that at…
The recent wave of unprecedented cocaine seizures across West Africa is no longer a series of isolated criminal incidents. Instead, the arrests, investigations, and intelligence emerging from multiple jurisdictions increasingly point to a sophisticated transnational narcotics network stretching from Latin America through West Africa into Europe. At the center of this network is Dutch fugitive…
More people are using drugs than ever before, while synthetic substances are reshaping illicit markets and exposing vulnerable communities to greater health risks, according to the UN World Drug Report 2026, released on Friday. “We have seen an unprecedented spike in new types of drugs on the market, and worryingly, some are more potent or…
The U.S. military conducted another strike in the Caribbean on Sunday against a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the region, killing two people and leaving six survivors, the Defense Department said, amid an ongoing campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America. The latest attack — which now number more than 60 — brings the number…
As South Africa becomes the ninth African country to introduce the use of new long-acting drug lenacapavir for HIV prevention, RFI spoke with infectious disease specialist Ndong Essomba Bitchoka about how the treatment works, whether the supply will meet demand and why developing an HIV vaccine remains a challenge. New long-acting antiretroviral treatment lenacapavir requires…
Two Peruvian police officers disguised as World Cup mascots Clutch and Maple helped to arrest a suspected drug dealer in Lima, the latest in a series of law enforcement operations in the country involving officers using creative costumes to apprehend accused criminals. Col. Carlos Alcántara, head of the Green Squadron — a unit that combats…
Shares of Abivax tumbled as much 37% after it reported fresh data on its lead asset, a drug for ulcerative colitis, wiping out billions in market cap and raising questions over how a potential takeover of the French biotech could unfold. The medicine met its endpoints of demonstrating clinically meaningful efficacy and a placebo-adjusted remission…
