Paper short abstract:

Based on fieldwork in Tanzania (2015-16), this paper asks what the increased reliance on medicine imports from India means for healthcare access in Tanzania and what ideas and concerns are bundled up with the movement of medicines across continents.

Paper long abstract:

Social, cultural and economic ties between East Africa and South Asia have deep historical roots, which play out in complex ways in the movement of medicines from India to Tanzania. The diminishing capacity of the Tanzanian pharmaceutical manufacturing industry over the last couple of decades, during a period of economic liberalisation, has increased reliance on imports from India in particular. In this paper, based on fieldwork in Dar-es-Salaam and Mwanza (2015-16), we ask what this means for healthcare access in Tanzania, and what ideas and concerns are bundled up with the movement of medicines. While the availability of cheap imports has had undoubted benefits for the supply of essential medicines in Tanzania, many of our interviewees - from Government officials to consumers - were concerned about the implications for security of supply, domestic manufacture and the integrity of supply chains. Concerns about medicine quality, fuelled by rumours that products that do not meet international safety standards are shipped off the Africa, and instabilities in global markets increase the potential uncertainties and vulnerabilities of heavy dependence on Asian imports.