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Santos Bimbile is worried. He has visited four pharmacies in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, and none of them have the medicine his sister-in-law needs to relieve her stomach ailments.
“It is very difficult to get hold of certain drugs, and especially at an affordable price,” he explains.
Bimbile’s problem is familiar to many of this country’s 1.4 million citizens – a small state in central West Africa known for its oil wealth, widespread poverty and iron-fisted rule. .
Medically, the country is suffering from a perfect storm, during which long-standing drug shortages have combined with the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have hardly received anything over the past three years,” said Francisco Ondo Nsue, director of Centramed, a government agency that supplies hospitals and pharmacies in Equatorial Guinea in early July.
Fatima Nsang stands in front of the Los Angeles pharmacy, one of the most famous in Malabo, with her six-month-old baby in her hands. He has trouble breathing.
“I am looking for medication – they prescribed me seven in the hospital but I can only find two,” she said.
Ocheku, a 40-year-old Nigerian, walked out of the store empty-handed, hoping only to buy pain relievers. Esther Ada could not find medication for her diabetes.
Map of Equatorial Guinea showing the capital Malabo and the main city Bata. By (AFP) “We are short of a lot of medicine here,” said a saleswoman at a hospital in Malabo.
The health ministry has an annual drug budget of around two million CFA francs ($ 3.6 million / three million euros) but “only three percent is spent,” said Ondo Nsue.
The meager amount allocated for drugs is also under pressure to help meet other needs, including the Covid pandemic.
The situation could soon worsen if the ministry fails to buy drugs quickly, Ondo Nsue said.
The health ministry and other branches of government did not respond to an AFP solicitation.
Money management
Equatorial Guinea has been ruled for over 42 years by Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
The 79-year-old is the world’s oldest sitting president and is frequently accused of abuse by rights groups.
In 1979, he overthrew his uncle Francisco Macias Nguema, who had ruled the country since independence from Spain in 1968, and had him shot by a firing squad.
The discovery of oil in 1991 blew up the country’s coffers, but most of the wealth was spent on large infrastructure projects rather than health and education, watchdogs say.
In 2019, life expectancy was only 59 years, according to the World Bank.
The headquarters of Equatorial Guinea’s national oil company, Gepetrol, in Malabo. Government revenues are 90 percent dependent on oil and have collapsed since the fall in the price of crude in 2014. By Samuel OBIANG (AFP / File) Government revenues are 90 percent dependent on oil and have collapsed since the price of crude fell in 2014.
“Despite being considered an upper middle-income country, Equatorial Guinea’s health system continues to suffer from many of the diseases that typically plague health systems in low-income countries: insufficient staff, long waiting times, stockouts of basic drugs and medical supplies. , and frequent misdiagnosis, ”Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a 2017 report.
Soaring prices and the worrying emergence of counterfeit drugs are signs of how profiteers are meeting the needs of sick people.
“Frenadol (a medicine against the flu) now costs 10,000 CFA francs against 4,000 francs a few months ago,” said Ela Anguesomo, coming out of a pharmacy.
A customs officer at Malabo airport, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “We have made several seizures in Cameroon and Nigeria of medicines which are probably fake.
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