The Pharmacy and Poisons Board is pushing for tougher checks on herbal medicines in Kenya, warning that traditional remedies must meet clear safety, quality and labelling requirements before consumers can have full confidence in them.
The regulator wants manufacturers and practitioners dealing in traditional medicines to provide stronger scientific evidence, maintain consistent production standards and give consumers clear information on dosage and ingredients.
The move comes as herbal medicine continues to play an important role in healthcare, particularly among communities where traditional health practitioners remain an early source of treatment.
Dr Edwin Burugu, the head of Herbal and Complementary Medicines at the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, said regulation was necessary to ensure traditional medicines available to the public are safe and reliable.
“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 Burugu.
Burugu was speaking while representing PPB chief executive Dr Ahmed Mohamed during a panel discussion held as part of the 2026 African Traditional Medicine Day celebrations at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) in Nairobi.
He said tighter oversight should not be interpreted as an attempt to prevent the use of traditional remedies or restrict practitioners who rely on them.
Instead, Burugu said, regulation would help protect patients, promote responsible practices, preserve traditional knowledge and give legitimate manufacturers an opportunity to develop products that can compete in the market.
“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 were presided over by Health CS Aden Duale under the theme, ‘strengthening African traditional medicine through research, regulation and integration for universal health coverage’.
Traditional medicine remains widely used across Africa, with traditional health practitioners continuing to serve as the first point of care for many people.
The World Health Organization has said traditional medicine can support efforts towards universal health coverage. However, it has also stressed the need for research, regulation and evidence to establish the safety and effectiveness of such treatments before they are fully integrated into health systems.
Kenya has made progress in registering herbal medicinal products, but figures presented by the PPB show that local manufacturing remains behind imports.
Between 2024 and 2026, the board approved 42 herbal medicinal products. Of these, 33 were imported, while only nine were manufactured within Kenya.
The gap was already evident in 2024, when five locally manufactured products were registered compared with nine imported ones.
The number of locally manufactured products registered by the board fell to two in 2025 and remained at two in 2026.
At the same time, imported herbal medicines accounted for 13 registrations in 2025 and 11 in 2026.
The latest figures form part of a wider increase in the registration of herbal medicinal products. Between 2020 and 2026, the PPB registered 99 such products, with 42 of them approved over the past three years.
The board said the numbers demonstrate the need to improve Kenya’s capacity to produce traditional medicines locally while ensuring that imported products also comply with the required standards.
Manufacturers seeking registration of herbal medicines are required to meet several conditions before their products can be approved.
These include requirements on manufacturing practices, the composition of products, quality control, stability, labelling and evidence supporting claims about their safety and medicinal benefits.
The controls are particularly important because herbal products are sometimes viewed by consumers as harmless simply because they are made from plants.
The board, however, noted that being natural does not automatically make a product safe.
The safety of a herbal medicine can be affected by the particular plant used, the quantity consumed, the method used to prepare it and the presence of contaminants or other substances.
These factors can determine whether a product is safe for use and make proper testing and monitoring necessary before and after it reaches consumers.
Burugu said practitioners of traditional medicine therefore have a responsibility to follow ethical standards and comply with regulatory requirements intended to protect the public.
The PPB said stronger controls would allow consumers to make better-informed decisions while helping responsible practitioners and manufacturers build confidence in traditional medicines.
The regulator also sees greater local production as an opportunity for Kenya to expand its herbal medicine industry, provided manufacturers meet the required standards for safety, quality, consistency and proper information for consumers.