Authorities seize expired drugs

Health authorities in Guinea-Bissau seized on Wednesday 140 kg of expired medicine from several pharmacies and street vendors in the capital, Bissau, as part of an effort to combat the sales of illegal medicine, the Panafrican News Agency (PANA) reported on Thursday. The officials said many of the pharmacies operated under poor hygienic conditions and that most hospitals lacked drugs. PANA reported that the poor health situation, including an outbreak of typhoid fever earlier this year, was the result of the 1998 war in which much of the health infrastructure was destroyed. PANA also reported that 47 percent of Guinea-Bissau’s population has access to drinking water.