Pharmacy and Poisons Board acting chief executive officer Dr Ahmed I. MohamedA growing market for herbal medicines is putting a new question before regulators: how can Kenyans benefit from traditional remedies while knowing the products they buy are safe?
The Pharmacy and Poisons Board is now demanding stronger scientific evidence, better quality controls and closer safety monitoring of herbal medicines sold to Kenyans.
The regulator says traditional medicines need clear doses, standardised production and proper labelling so consumers know what they are taking and can be protected from potentially harmful products.
“Traditional medicines must meet clear standards for quality, safety and consistency. Accurate dosing, standardised production and proper labelling are essential to protecting consumers and building confidence in these products,” said Dr Edwin Burugu, the board’s head of Herbal and Complementary Medicines.
Burugu was representing PPB chief executive Dr Ahmed Mohamed during a panel discussion at the 2026 African Traditional Medicine Day celebrations at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) in Nairobi.
He said regulation should not be seen as an attempt to stop traditional medicine, but as a way of protecting patients and helping legitimate practitioners and manufacturers build trusted products.
“Regulation should not be viewed as a barrier. It protects the public, supports responsible practitioners, safeguards traditional knowledge and creates opportunities for locally manufactured products to grow,” Burugu said.
The celebrations, presided over by Health CS Aden Duale, were held under the theme, 'strengthening African traditional medicine through research, regulation and integration for universal health coverage'.
Traditional medicine remains an important source of healthcare in Africa, particularly in communities where traditional health practitioners are often the first point of care.
The World Health Organization says traditional medicine can contribute to universal health coverage, but its integration into health systems needs research, regulation and evidence on its safety and effectiveness.
Kenya has been registering herbal medicinal products, but the figures presented by PPB point to another challenge: most of the recently approved products are imported.
Between 2024 and 2026, 33 of the 42 herbal medicinal products registered by the board were imported, while only nine were manufactured locally.
Five locally manufactured products were registered in 2024, compared with nine imported products.
Local registrations dropped to two in 2025 and remained at two in 2026, while imported registrations rose to 13 in 2025 and stood at 11 in 2026.
Overall, PPB registered 99 herbal medicinal products between 2020 and 2026, with 42 registered during the past three years.
The board said the figures highlight the need to strengthen Kenya’s ability to manufacture traditional medicines while ensuring both local and imported products meet safety and quality requirements.
Under its regulatory framework, herbal medicines seeking registration must meet requirements covering manufacturing practices, product composition, quality control, stability, labelling and evidence supporting their safety and medicinal claims.
This is important because herbal products are often perceived as naturally safe simply because they are derived from plants.
But natural does not always mean harmless. The safety of a product can depend on the plant used, the amount taken, how it is prepared and whether it contains contaminants or other substances.
Burugu said traditional medicine practitioners therefore need to embrace ethical practices and comply with requirements designed to protect public health.
He called for closer collaboration between practitioners, researchers, manufacturers and regulators to generate scientific evidence and develop quality-assured products.
The goal, he said, should be to preserve valuable traditional knowledge while ensuring that medicines reaching the public are safe, consistent and supported by evidence.
For Kenya, the challenge is therefore not simply whether traditional medicine should be used, but how it can be brought into a system where consumers can have greater confidence in what they are buying and taking.
This version makes the consumer-safety issue the news, rather than making PPB itself the news. It also brings Burugu's quotes into the first few paragraphs, as you requested.
