The informal pharmaceuticals market in the Democratic Republic of Congo

In 1996 UNRISD sponsored a survey, using questionnaires, interviews and participant research, into the parallel pharmaceutical market in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire). The author describes `typical' purchasers and vendors, the quality of products sold and bought, and the levels of regulation possible/needed in such a market, and challenges policy makers to develop a system of partial regulation combining the relevant merits of government and private sector control.