The drugs at stake: market of pharmaceuticals in Tigray

Abstract

The paper aims to discuss some findings of an ongoing research on pharmaceuticals the A, is carrying on in the Regional State of Tigray of Federal democratic republic of Ethiopia. After presenting the context of research, the paper will focus on the market of pharmaceuticals. It has to be viewed as a complex phenomenon which should include Western drugs and traditional and religious ones as well. The three arenas are not independent but each one defines itself by its relationships with the others, in a system which is shaped by social forces and rooted in history. The analysis must not elude these dimensions. Which are, both at private and public level, the politics of distribution of western pharmaceuticals? How people use it in facing the major infectious diseases. How Western pharmaceuticals are perceived and used? Which are the relationships among Western, religious and traditional drugs? The paper will attempt to answer to these questions.