Objectives of the Lomé Initiative
Fighting against the trafficking of falsified and substandard medicines
- Introduce legislation to criminalise the traffic in substandard and falsified medicines and impose tough criminal penalties.
- Sign and ratify relevant international agreements, including the Medicrime Convention and the Palermo Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime.
- Establish inter-agency mechanisms at national level to ensure vigorous enforcement of the new legislation and improve cooperation among states.
Lomé Summit
- On 18 January 2020, the governments of Congo, Ghana, Niger, Uganda, Senegal and Togo signed a political declaration committing them to take action on falsified and substandard medicines, marking the launch of the Lomé Initiative.
- The States mandated the Foundation to support the Lomé Initiative and its follow-up.
Expected outcomes of the Lomé Initiative
- Undertake an audit of existing legislation to identify gaps and make recommendations on new/additional legislation rather than impose them.
- Not duplicate but support existing relevant international agreements and the ratification of the African Medicines Agency.
- Encourage other African states to join this initiative.
- Implement activities through a framework agreement among the various participating states and the recommendations from an ongoing legislative audit.
- Reduce poor-quality medicine as a first phase of a long-term commitment, which builds upon a historic commitment since the 2017 Oyo Declaration, the 2018 London Symposium and a preparatory meeting in Marrakesh in 2019.
- Launch a youth consultation in Africa in 2021 which will be both an awareness campaign on issues related to medicines, and a call to action to find solutions against the market of falsified and substandard medicines. The consultation will be followed by a forum to showcase and reward the most promising projects.
The Heads of State and their senior representatives with HE Omar Hilale, Vice-President of the Executive Board of UNICEF, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, HRH Prince Michael of Kent, Royal Patron of the Foundation and Mr. Jean-Yves Ollivier, Founding Chairman.
