Conversations Across Borders: A Workshop in Transnational Studies
Date and Time
Location
“Making Medicines in East Africa: Cost, Quality, and Compromises”
Speaker:
Nitsan Chorev, Harmon Family Professor of Sociology and International Studies, Brown University.
Discussant:
Jocelyn Viterna, Faculty Associate. Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Harvard University.
Contact:
John Arroyo
arroyojc@mit.edu
Chairs:
Peggy Levitt, Associate. Chair; Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Wellesley College.
Jocelyn Viterna, Faculty Associate. Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Harvard University.
Abstract:
In East Africa, imported medicines greatly contributed to social development by improving access to low-cost, high-quality drugs. But what impact do imported medicines have on the local pharmaceutical industry? The literature on development often assumes that the provision of affordable social services would have to come at the expense of industrial development. This seems to be particularly the case when the imported commodities are given for free, as donations. In contrast, in this paper I show that the donation of drugs did not inhibit but rather contributed to the upgrading of some pharmaceutical companies in Kenya and Uganda: they now produce more complex drugs and follow much higher quality standards. Two conditions contributed to this surprising outcome: the creation of a market that did not a-priori exclude local manufacturers, and effective monitoring. A third condition, however, required support beyond the one provided by way of social development: access to technical know-how. This empirical argument suggests interesting insights into the potential contribution of the developmental state, foreign aid, and south-south relations to industrial development.