The Dark Side Of American Pharmaceutical Companies’ Service In Africa

American Colonialism in Africa

Though America was not one of the primary colonizers of Africa, but at the late twentieth century the American government established itself as an African colonizer. Their allowance of African slavery and the rise of American empire after the civil war played significant role in the process.  The purpose of the colonizer country was exploitation of the power and resources.  Even in the post colonial era, the relationship did not improve much. The economic relationship never resulted in a balanced profit. Africa has always suffered from a forcefully imposed economic or political relation. The American government wanted to make profit as much as possible from the African market.  

The concept of ‘dependent development’ is well applied in the case of Africa (Freund 2016). If the development of a country largely depends on another country, it can never result in sustainable profit.  Africa is a country, which has suffered the painful past of colonialism for the longest time in history. Many European and American authoritarian leaders have imposed their imperialistic rules on the African citizens. Their so called ‘development’ has never intended to do good for the nation. The commitment of those developed countries only demonstrated harm for the nation. They have always been concerned about their own benefit. And like always, it is Africans who have to serve for the purpose.

The first world countries like USA or other European countries are busy developing the underdeveloped countries. However the deep analysis of the political economy of the developing process indicates to another scenario. Africa as a country suffers from natural calamities, economical crisis and severe diseases. The western help in the developing process has mostly proved to be a failure.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or AIDS has become a major public concern for public health in Africa. USA’s pharmaceutical companies distributed drugs in the republic of Uganda in East Africa. In 2003 the US president’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief or PEPAR had initially proved to a great success in the prevention (Katz, Bassett and Wright 2013). Before that, Uganda had been experiencing a very small scale in the AIDS prevention. The drugs they distributed in Uganda were categorized as the front line medicine capable of fighting the fatal disease in the most effective way. However the situation started to change soon. The later part of the relief process did not prove to be a failure. Uganda’s excessive dependency on the American pharmaceutical companies is leading to a worse condition. The conflicts in the funding system have proved to be one of the main reasons for the downfall.  The ‘too good to believe’ offers of America pharmaceutical companies to improve the condition failed severely. Too much dependency on the American pharmaceutical will always fail to establish an effective and long lasting treatment program.

The Failure of the AIDS Relief Program

The average income of an African is much less in comparison with that of an average American.  Americans get health benefits and government subsidies in the medicines but the Africans do not. There are almost no incentives to support the AIDS treatment for them.  So, the average patient has to pay more and more for the treatment.  The lack of the corporate industries in the medical business drew huge attention from the western pharmaceutical companies (Falola and Achberger 2013). The American companies act as if they are trying to help the underprivileged one , but in reality it is their own profit, they are after. They have the history of being a colonial ruler, being an imperialistic nation who proved to be the most developed country in the world. even after the war, or post colonial era, the simple path the industrialized nation follow is to make as much profit as possible. To achieve this desired goal, they can adapt any route. Often it has been observed that they adapt the structure of benevolence, but deep down it is the selfishness. The American pharmaceuticals in Africa proved to be nothing different.

This perspective entirely changes how one sees the picture. So, the big American pharmaceutical companies are neither working for the development of the African people nor they providing any service to the community. The American pharmaceutical companies actually grabbed the opportunity and started a billion dollar industry (Weiss and Achberger 2013 ).  The social and political situations were worse no doubt, and it was one of the main driving forces for the diseases to spread so rapidly. The American pharmaceutical publicized that they are investing lot to develop the drugs. However in reality an effective drug is yet to be materialized. However, it did not stop the pharmaceuticals to profit hugely. Pharmaceuticals were always concerned about the African market not the African citizens, and this way they could never help the AIDS relief treatment system.  Drugs became profit for them. The PEPFAR tried to improve the situation, irrespective whether it was externally funded. This program helped 175, 000 patients directly. (n ). The global fund program came under severe criticism, as they were accused of misusing the fund money.

The recent budget cut affected the AIDS relief program greatly. It also highlights how Uganda’s economy is dependent on American economy, which is not good for any independent nation’s well being. The PERFAR succeeded initially but it greatly failed to make it sustainable. The imbalance structure in the manufacturing process resisted other country’s companies from becoming successful in the industry.  The international legal processes fueled in the disaster.

Exploitative Nature of American Pharmaceutical Companies

American pharmaceutical took the form of a beneficial social worker, but their real intention was never to serve the poor souls at free of cost. It is the industry, they wanted to establish and they quite succeeded in the process. The development of a needy country serves them the perfect platform. They made billions, by using the platform the best way possible.  The AIDS driven Uganda and its socio political condition helped them in the process. The extreme dependency on the imperial power for purpose of national development failed badly. At the end, it is the poor nation and the patients who are suffering the most.

This segment of the essay discusses about European colonialism, which acts as an expansion from the American colonialism, in sighted in the earlier segment.

The phase from sixteenth century to twentieth century exposed the inhabitants towards the dominance of the European powers. As a matter of specification, the countries of Asia, Africa and America were suppressed under the dominance of Europe (Fenske 2014). This dominance entrapped Africa entirely in terms of political, social, economic and cultural aspects.  The following are some of the typical examples, which enhance the clarity of the readers regarding the real scenario of neo-colonialism in Africa.

One of the major examples of European neo-colonialism is Francafrique. This example merges the cultures of France and Africa. As a matter of specification, fading away the demarcation between France and Africa preserves the stability in the relationship between France and its African allies. Presidential usage of the term made the inhabitants encounter positivity in the relationship between France and African inhabitants (Bovcon 2013). This positivity enhanced the parameters of political, economic, social and cultural. These aspects contradict the cross cultural conflicts, which prevailed in the state towards the later part of the nineteenth century. A different colonial policy was implemented for resolving the conflicts. However, lack of any concrete results compelled the neocolonialism critiques to use the term “Francafrique” for shedding light upon the lack of stability in the relationships. This drawback added a negative tone to the advices and suggestions proposed to the French presidents regarding the restoration of lost stability in the relationships.

The major concern regarding the pre-existing instability was poverty, a social malice, which broadened the gap between the rich and poorer sections. The advent of colonialism postponed the social issues, except for the fully developed countries. The works of the influential politicians are recommendable in terms of safeguarding the stability in the relationships with the colonies (Filippov 2014). Delving deep into the issue, attempt to preserve the stability was for exploitation of the mineral resources. This adds a negative connotation to the attempts exposed by the influential regarding maintaining their ties with their allies. This “trait” of their character nullifies the maturity, falsifying their dedication and commitment. Herein, the word “extent” as proposed in the statement attains a short term vision in its explanation.

As per the comments of the critiques, the African and the French leaders shared a close relationship during the phases of Soviet-American cold war in 1941-45. The side parting with America proved helpful for African and French leaders in terms of fulfilling their demands. This perspective can be considered as the plan to stabilize the relationship through wars and political unrests. The net result of this perspective was the enhancement of political, geographic and economic parameters. Herein lays the comparison between the strategic vision of the French and African leaders with the country politics played by the national leaders (Smith 2013). The previous sentence conglomerates the states of Africa into one entity, which possesses flexibility to restore the lost stability.

Along with Francafrique, one of the other examples of European neocolonialism is Francophonie. This example promoted the linguistics of France through the collaboration of the French community and the Assembly of Seventy five country organization. Algerian critique Kateb Yachine perceived Francophonie as an agent, which aggravates the complexities of non-residents of France in terms of stabilization in their identity. Along with this, Yachine’s comment makes the statement, “unity in diversity”, tautologically true regarding the linguistic application (Rjéoutski, Offord and Argent 2014). His patriotism towards the motherland, France is reflected in his masterpiece, Arabesques. The major drive behind this is the quotation, “I write in French to tell the people that I am not French”. Delving deep into the inner essence of the quotation, “not French” generates an identity crisis, which bears correlation with the alien existence of the non-residents within the threshold of France (Lewis 2016).

Prolonged slavery and imperialism nullifies the aspect of industrial growth for Africa. As an example, transactions between Angola, Sierra Lone and Congo, regarding the diamond trade ignited the spark of political unrest. Consistency in these unrests makes the diamond trade illegal. This is due to the lack of quality and standards amidst the chaotic ambience. The “illegal” adjective can be correlated with the exploitation of the natural resource, making the relationship between the leaders a hostile one. Here, the aspect of stability in relationship attains a negative tone. The conflict between the Central and West African politicians regarding the possession of diamond mines is one of the typical examples of the hostile relationship. Interstate conflicts create a bad example for the neighboring countries in terms of establishing a stable relationship (Prudham 2016). Illegal utilization of the diamond sales to execute the business operations adversely affected the African economy. Herein lays the appropriateness of the terms “conflict diamonds”. Along with this, the term “blood diamonds” is also appropriate in terms of the bleeding efforts of the diamond industry personnel to systematize the business activities. The secret alliance with the armies assisted the personnel to heave a sigh of relief in terms of restoring the efficiency within the business activities. The major drive behind this is the financial assistance to the diamond industry personnel.

Diamond trade is just a mere segment of degrading economy. To portray the real effects of neo-colonialism, reduction in the prices of the natural resources snatched the daily bread of the African workers. Lack of assistance further aggravated the hostility between the French and the super powers (Tar and Wapmuk 2017). Not receiving any aid or support is justified in terms of the mere possession over the international market. Lack of oriental approach towards international expansion detaches Africa from the super powers. This necessitates the need for strategic planning with a theoretical perspective for enlisting Africa within the list of the developing countries. For this, evaluation is a prime activity. Execution of evaluation in the form of meetings would improve the relationship between Africa and the national leaders (Tusalem and Morrison 2014).

References 

Bovcon, M., 2013. Françafrique and regime theory. European Journal of International Relations, 19(1), pp.5-26.

Falola, T. and Achberger, J. eds., 2013. The political economy of development and underdevelopment in Africa (Vol. 10). Routledge.

Fenske, J., 2014. Ecology, trade, and states in pre-colonial Africa. Journal of the European Economic Association, 12(3), pp.612-640.

Filippov, V.R., 2014. Francafrique: France on the Black Continent. International Affairs, 90(3), pp.170-188.

Freund, B., 2016. The making of contemporary Africa: the development of African society since 1800. Palgrave Macmillan.

Katz, I.T., Bassett, I.V. and Wright, A.A., 2013. PEPFAR in transition—implications for HIV care in South Africa. New England Journal of Medicine, 369(15), pp.1385-1387.

Lewis, M.A., 2016. Between francophonie and world literature in French: Tahar Ben Jelloun’s evolving authority. The Journal of North African Studies, 21(2), pp.301-309.

Prudham, S., 2016. Perspectives on Natural Resources in the Global Economy: Polity Series Review. Journal of Agrarian Change, 16(2), pp.342-355.

Rjéoutski, V., Offord, D. and Argent, G., 2014. European francophonie: the social, political and cultural history of an international prestige language. Peter Lang.

Smith, S.W., 2013. France in Africa: A New Chapter?. Current History, 112(754), p.163.

Tar, U.A. and Wapmuk, S., 2017. The Revolutionary United Front, Liberian Warlords and Civil War in Sierra Leone. In Violent Non-State Actors in Africa(pp. 251-275). Springer International Publishing.

Tusalem, R.F. and Morrison, M.K., 2014. The impact of diamonds on economic growth, adverse regime change, and democratic state-building in Africa. International Political Science Review, 35(2), pp.153-172.

Weiss, B. and Achberger, J., 2013. on Uganda’s HIV/AIDS Relief System. The Political Economy of Development and Underdevelopment in Africa, 10, p.363.