Gambia’s Drug Regulator Flags 121 Failed Quality Tests in 2024
The Medicines Control Agency (MCA) of The Gambia reported that 121 medical products failed post-shipment quality testing in 2024, according to AllAfrica, citing the Gambian newspaper Foroyaa.
Post-shipment quality testing is a standard regulatory procedure in which samples of imported medicines are examined after they arrive in the country to verify that they meet safety and efficacy standards. The MCA is The Gambia’s national authority responsible for regulating pharmaceuticals, medical devices and related products to protect public health.
The Gambia, a small West African nation of roughly 2.5 million people, has worked in recent years to strengthen its pharmaceutical regulatory framework in coordination with international partners. Medicines regulation across West Africa has been an area of focus for bodies such as the West African Health Organisation and the World Health Organization, which have encouraged member states to improve post-market surveillance and quality assurance systems.
Foroyaa, one of The Gambia’s long-running privately owned newspapers, has reported regularly on MCA activities, including alerts about counterfeit or substandard medicines entering the local market. Substandard and falsified medicines remain a recognised public health concern across sub-Saharan Africa, where uneven supply-chain controls have historically allowed unsafe products to reach consumers.
The MCA’s 2024 figures point to the scale of its quality-control work over the past year, though the agency has not, in the public reporting cited by AllAfrica, broken down which categories of products failed testing. The Gambia’s pharmaceutical market is modest and largely dependent on imports, which makes port-of-entry and post-shipment testing a key line of defence against unsafe products reaching pharmacies, hospitals and households.
Sources
This report was written from coverage published by the following news organisations. Follow the links for the original reporting.
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