Abstract
Complementary and alternative medicine is an integral component of primary healthcare in Kenya. This is because the infrastructural health setup in the country is inadequate in catering for all the medical needs of the population. This particularly holds true in the rural areas where many rural folk rely on products of herbal origin to offset their healthcare needs. More often than not these products are an elaborate cacophony of several different substances of biological origin and thus need personnel adept in their preparation. Sadly, due to loopholes in legislation and regulation, quacks have a field day in the practice. Moreover, the process of planting, harvesting, preparation and storage of herbs and related products dictates that a significant number of people will ultimately be involved in the whole process. This is likely to set the stage for manipulation and compromise of the safety, quality and efficacy of these products. This state of affairs appears unabated especially in the context of the current legal and regulatory framework governing herbal medicine use and practice in Kenya. Not only are these laws inadequate, they are shrouded in ambiguity, open to interpretation and the authorities mandated to implement them often end up performing duplicate roles. The aim of this review is to critique the legal and regulatory provisions governing herbal medicine use and practice in Kenya. In conclusion, laws and regulations meant to control herbal medicine use and practice in Kenya are wanting. Clear and definitive legislation on herbal medicine use and practice coupled with effective implementation by mandated institutions will go a long way in inspiring confidence to all stakeholders of herbal medicine.
Highlights
Controversy, doubt, suspicion and skepticism have courted the use and practice of herbal medicine since time immemorial [1,2,3]
In this work we begin by giving an overview of herbal medicine practice in Kenya, diseases treated by herbal medicine practitioners, shortcomings of herbal medicine and critique the current regulatory and legislative framework governing herbal use and practice in the country by examining parliamentary laws, bills and policy documents that are herbal medicine oriented
The current policies governing intellectual property rights are inappropriate for the protection of herbal medicine and related resources as are the mechanisms for the protection, access to and benefit sharing arising from traditional knowledge and related resources; ii) Practitioners of herbal medicine should be trained on quality control, ethics and basic medical education; iii) Forums that bring together research scientists and herbal medicine practitioners should be promoted with the aim of fostering collaborative work between the scientists and practitioners of herbal medicine; iv) The current pharmacopoeia on herbal medicine developed by Kokwaro et al [72] should be updated
Summary
Controversy, doubt, suspicion and skepticism have courted the use and practice of herbal medicine since time immemorial [1,2,3]. In Kenya and by extension many developing countries, cultural and socioeconomic factors coupled with the prevalence of a multitude of lifethreatening disease conditions favour the use of herbal medicines [1, 6]. This is not to say that the use of herbal medicine is not popular in the developed world, far from it. Herbal medicine appears to many as a "cashcow". This article reviews the legal and regulatory framework of herbal medicine control in Kenya and highlights some of the challenges the legislation encounters and proposes recommendations for improving the existing framework
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