Kenya targets counterfeit drugs

Kenya has deployed intelligence units in an effort to curb the proliferation of counterfeit drugs, which include fake malaria treatments, in the country, Medical Services Minister Peter Anyang Nyongo said on Wednesday, AFP/Google.com reports.

About 30% of drugs in Kenya are counterfeit, according to a recent survey by the country's National Quality Control Laboratories and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board.

Nyongo said 16% of malaria drugs in Kenya are fake, countering some reports that suggested the number was as high as 38%. Nyongo said his department would collaborate with the National Security and Intelligence Services to refine "surveillance methods so as to decrease the probability of having more counterfeits in the market." He said, "Be warned that if you are out there trying to sell counterfeit drugs to Kenyans, you will be caught very soon and answer for your sins," adding that authorities will use a strategy that is similar to drug trafficking methods (AFP/Google.com, 5/28).

Counterfeit drugs will be eliminated over time as authorities scale up surveillance techniques, Nyongo said (Ngirachu, Daily Nation, 5/29). In Kenya, malaria kills 34,000 children younger than age five each year, and about 25 million people live in malaria-endemic areas.

The disease is responsible for 20% of all hospital admissions and between 30% and 50% of outpatient hospital visits in the country (AFP/Google.com, 5/28).