They don't want to close Roxy: a qualitative account on the perceived efforts by Ivory Coast to end the informal market for medicines.

Victor Chimhutu, Armel Dagrou, Archlove Takunda Tanyanyiwa

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Article in Health policy OPEN, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Victor ChimhutuDepartment of Public Health and Sports Sciences, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Postbox 400, 2418 Elverum, Norway.

Armel DagrouDepartment of Health Promotion and Development, University of Bergen, Postboks 7807, 5020 Bergen, Norway.

Archlove Takunda TanyanyiwaDepartment of Social Work and Guidance, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Vormstuguvegen 2, 2624 Lillehammer, Norway.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The informal market for medicines poses great danger to public health as they expose populations to counterfeit and expired medicines, among many vices. Ivory Coast is one of the countries where this market is growing. The country has been trying to end this market unsuccessfully. This study aims to investigate the perceived role of the state in the regulation and efforts to end this market. A qualitative case study design was used, with in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) being the methods for data collection. 20 IDIs and 3 FGDs with 13 participants in total were conducted with sellers, buyers, and pharmaceutical experts. We found that: the informal market plays an integral role in the health system and that it provides employment to many. Additionally, this informal market is complex and requires a lot of cooperation and coordination at many levels to successfully end it, which is resource demanding. Based on some of these reasons, there is an ambivalence in the regulation and the quest to end this market. The study concludes that the government of Ivory Coast needs to be decisive in its roles of regulation and that of ensuring that medicines are available and accessible.

Indexed as

Informal marketsInformal medicinesInformal providersPharmaceutical drugsSub-saharan africa

Identifiers

PMID40746917

DOI10.1016/j.hpopen.2025.100145

PMCPMC12311576

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