On 13 December 2023, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe invited Senegal and Cameroon to sign and ratify the Council of Europe Convention on counterfeiting of medical products and similar offences threatening public health, know as the MEDICRIME convention. This invitation is valid for five years from its adoption.

These requests to join the MEDICRIME convention demonstrate the strong desire of these West and Central African states to strengthen the fight against the scourge of falsified medicines, of which their populations are victims. The Council of Europe welcomes this growing mobilization of African states in favour of the MEDICRIME Convention.

The invitation to Senegal to join the Convention represents the culmination of long-term work launched by the Senegalese authorities and supported by close collaboration between the OPALS Foundation (Pan-African Health Organization), the Humanitarian Center for Pharmacy Professions (CHMP) with the Secretariat of the Committee of the Parties to the MEDICRIME convention.

The OPALS Foundation, the CHMP and the Secretariat of the Committee of the Parties paid a visit to Dakar on 31 May 2023 to meet the Senegalese authorities, in particular Madame Aïssata TALL SALL, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, on this subject, on the sidelines of the International Pharmaceutical Forum.

Picture: Audience with Mrs. Aïssata TALL SALL, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, and the joint delegation of the Council of Europe, the OPALS Foundation and the CHMP, under the scientific authority of Professor Gentilini.