Report: Kenya Takes Action Against Counterfeit Drugs
Kenya has been working hard to ensure that counterfeit drugs do not enter its borders and provide those in the country with some of the best healthcare in Africa.
According to Professor Anyang’ Nyong’o, the head of Kenya’s Ministry of Medical Services, criminals from other African countries mark boxes with counterfeit drugs as coming from Kenya’s pharmaceutical industry, reports K24TV. But Nyong’o says the country is making improvements to its system.
“We’ve become wiser than them,” he told the news source.
These improvements encompass two main strategies, according to the news provider’s report.
The first is improved border security, which will allow Kenya to control what is and isn’t allowed to enter the country.
Kenya has been working hard to ensure that counterfeit drugs do not enter its borders and provide those in the country with some of the best healthcare in Africa.
According to Professor Anyang’ Nyong’o, the head of Kenya’s Ministry of Medical Services, criminals from other African countries mark boxes with counterfeit drugs as coming from Kenya’s pharmaceutical industry, reports K24TV. But Nyong’o says the country is making improvements to its system.
“We’ve become wiser than them,” he told the news source.
These improvements encompass two main strategies, according to the news provider’s report.
The first is improved border security, which will allow Kenya to control what is and isn’t allowed to enter the country.
“We have strengthened our border controls,” Nyong’o said. “We now have 11 very well equipped border checkpoints where, in fact, we have labs to test drugs coming into the country.”
The country is also working to introduce an anti-counterfeiting technology that centers around a new approach.
“We are working on a bar-coding system,” Nyong’o told the news source. The professor added that implementing such an anti-counterfeiting technology would not be easy but it “would make sure that the drugs coming into our country can be tested against a specific bar code so that if you don’t have these bar codes you’ll be rendered counterfeit.”
The focus of these efforts to reduce the amount of counterfeit drugs in Kenya is to not only improve the quality of healthcare for those who live in the country but to make the nation a beacon in eastern Africa for those seeking top-quality medical care.
Nyong’o says that he and other officials want to make Kenya “a preferred destination of healthcare in the region, if not in Africa, so as to promote medical tourism.”
Recent reports have indicated that the amount of counterfeit drugs in Kenya have been reduced significantly.
“Working closely with the police, CID and Interpol in these countries, we have been able to reduce significantly the prevalence of fake drugs,” Chief Government Pharmacist Kipkerich Koskei told the Daily Nation.
This reduction is particularly impressive considering that the country has more than 11,000 registered pharmaceutical products, which the Daily Nation says is one of the highest totals in Africa.