Overview of regulations on medicines derived from traditional Pharmacopoeia in Benin and Burkina Faso

Abstract

The success of the promotion policies of the Medicines Derived from Traditional Pharmacopoeia (MDTPs) requires a regulation that is adapted to realities and guarantees their quality, efficiency and safeness. This study aims to analyze the legal texts and the current guiding principles obtained from the heads of the departments in charge of traditional medicine in Burkina Faso and Benin.

The documents collected from the two countries have been analyzed comparatively and also in relation to WAEMU regulations and the WHO recommendations.

Several texts, dealing with the activity, products, facilities and advertisement related to traditional medicine, have been recorded in both countries. The regulation battery of Burkina Faso is more extensive than that of Benin, especially on traditional medicine and pharmacopoeia facilities. In addition, unlike biomedicines, the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and the West African Health Organization (WAHO) have not yet passed community laws on MDTPs.

To limit disparities in legal frameworks between the countries of the same sub-region, it is important that the WAEMU or WAHO be involved in the harmonization of pharmaceutical regulations by setting Community rules in the domain.