Zembla - China’s medicinal Power in the Corona Crisis

The majority of active ingredients found in the world’s pharmaceuticals are produced in China and India. In recent times, many of the Chinese factories lay dormant as a result of the Corona virus. Now that these factories are slowly starting up again, the ones in India are closing down.

China and India produce nearly 80 percent of the world’s medicinal products. In recent years, medicine shortages have increased due to, among other reasons, supply chain problems in these two countries. This dependence has put the world at risk. Producers of medicinal active ingredients warn, that because of the Corona pandemic, countries all over the world could be confronted with further shortages of essential medicines in a time when they are most needed.

How did it come to this? For years, experts have warned of us of our dependency on China and India, and are extremely concerned.
“The question isn’t whether or not the outbreak of this virus will have an effect on medical supplies, but for how many weeks and on what scale.”

Dutch investigative Journalism Program Zembla, investigates global access to medicine in a time of crisis.