DAKAR (AFP) — Anger is mounting in Senegal over the alleged use of expired materials in sanitary pads and diapers by a leading Chinese firm, which denies any wrongdoing or bribery.

The west African country’s pharmaceutical regulator late last year accused Softcare of possessing some 1,300 kilograms of expired and unsuitable raw materials, including polyethylene film, for use in its products.

The Senegalese Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency in early December asked Softcare to withdraw the goods in question from the market until the manufacturing process is “brought into compliance.”

This followed an inspection at Softcare’s Senegalese factory.

However eight days later, the regulator’s director said documents provided by Softcare showed “expired raw materials were not incorporated into the production process.”

But the inspectors stood by their findings and reports began circulating on social media that the products were making people itch.

Softcare denies the use of expired or unsuitable materials.

At a January rally near the health ministry attended by several dozen people, opposition member of parliament Guy Marius Sagna accused the health minister of not reacting to the scandal for three weeks.

“Enough is enough!” Sagna said, while those present also spoke of the “complicit” and “unacceptable” silence of the authorities.

‘Irritation, itching, infection’

In west and central Africa, many women and girls struggle to access quality menstrual products.

Softcare is a subsidiary of the Chinese group Sunda International, which sells products in more than 30 countries across the globe, including a dozen in Africa, where it has operated since 2009.

It has production and distribution centers in Kenya, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Uganda, Nigeria and Cameroon among others.

Diabel Drame, a Senegalese doctors’ union leader, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that “such sensitive products, when manufactured with inappropriate materials, can cause irritation, itching, allergies or even infection.”

Pharmacist Alima Niang, who is highly active on social media and has posted about the issue, told AFP that multiple women have reported itching after using Softcare’s sanitary pads.

A comment on a TikTok post by Niang said: “I used them twice on my niece’s recommendation, but stopped because they made me itch.”

“That was in 2024, and I’m not the only one who experienced itching after using the product,” she wrote.

When asked by AFP, Softcare said that the batch of materials involved in the scandal was never used “before or after” the controversy.