Kenya Considers Policy to Regulate Traditional Medicines

May 29, 2012

The Kenyan government is in the process of drafting a policy to regulate the use of herbal and other medicines prescribed by traditional healers. Arguments for and against regulation - and the contents of the draft policy - reflect many Kenyans’ love-hate relationship with traditional medicines and healers.

The use of plants to treat medical conditions has been an integral part of Kenya’s cultures for millennia, knowledge passed down from generation to generation.

Yet the conventional medical profession and many Kenyans have turned their backs on this rich tradition.

​​So says herbalist Dr. Maina Mwea. Initially a government pharmacist, Dr. Mwea turned to herbal medicine 20 years ago, a method he says is effective but has long been demonized.

“If you look back, in 1925 there was an act of Parliament enacted called Cap. 125, which outlawed the practice of traditional medicine and termed it ‘witchcraft.’ Since that time, it has never been reviewed,” said Dr. Mwea.

But that is about to change. The Kenyan government is drafting a policy that will regulate the practice of traditional medicine.

Dr. Jennifer Orwa is chief research officer at the Center for Traditional Medicines and Drug Research at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, or KEMRI. “The Ministry of Health will try and put in structures of a council who can be able to regulate the practice. Then there are the conservation issues, which is very important. We have a lot of medicines going out of our country, being sold outside, and then being processed and coming back,” she stated.