Skip to main content

PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Policy
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1353516
This article is part of the Research Topic The Politics of the Commercial Determinants of Health View all 11 articles

Title The Pharmaceutical Suitcase Trade and the Need for Multisectoral Regulation-Unproven COVID-19 (Ivermectin and HCQ Remedies Unmask an Insidious Health Danger in a Caribbean Island

Provisionally accepted
Sandeep B. Maharaj Sandeep B. Maharaj 1*Darren Dookeeram Darren Dookeeram 1Roger Hosein Roger Hosein 1Kelvin Ramkissoon Kelvin Ramkissoon 2Amrica Ramdass Amrica Ramdass 1Darleen Franco Darleen Franco 3Shalini Pooransingh Shalini Pooransingh 1
  • 1 The University of the West Indies St. Augustine, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
  • 2 Independent researcher, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
  • 3 North West Regional Health Authority, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This article seeks to highlight an aspect of the illegal pharmaceutical trade in the Caribbean. With the advent of COVID-19 there has been a shortage of a number of drugs in the formal sector. This is largely due to restrictions on foreign exchange, importation delays and sensationalized reporting of unrecommended drugs having a curative e ect on COVID-19 patients. This article examines the issue of "the informal suitcase trading" of these drugs. It posits a need for a collaborative and multi-sectoral approach to mitigate the negative e ects of the practice on health, trade and national security.

    Keywords: Suitcase trade, Pharmaceutical regulation, Health in all policy, Public Health, Ivermectin

    Received: 10 Dec 2023; Accepted: 08 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Maharaj, Dookeeram, Hosein, Ramkissoon, Ramdass, Franco and Pooransingh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sandeep B. Maharaj, The University of the West Indies St. Augustine, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.