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Revelations that fake or highly ineffective cancer drugs are being administered to patients in four African countries, including Kenya, are alarming. According to a study conducted by a researcher from the University of Notre Dame in the US, published in the Lancet Global Health, in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, and Cameroon, about 17 percent of cancer drugs don’t contain the vital ingredients that are needed to treat or reduce the disease. That may be the case in most sub-Saharan African countries.
This is dangerous because cancer is one of the leading causes of death in Africa. In Kenya, between 44,000 and 48,000 people are diagnosed with cancer each year, and close to 30,000 die annually. These are not just statistics; they represent parents, siblings, friends, and children whose families fill hospital corridors at Kenyatta National Hospital, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, and other facilities, praying that treatment will give them relief.
It is terrifying for someone battling cancer to learn that he or she has been taking useless medication. Chemotherapy and other cancer medicines are often the only hope of slowing or stopping the disease. When a patient is given a diluted, expired, or fake drug, the cancer spreads further.
Families that have sold land, organised fundraisers, and emptied savings accounts are often left watching in frustration as the conditions of their loved ones deteriorate despite receiving treatment.
The success of cancer care depends on the right drugs, in the right doses, and at the right time. Fake medicines do nothing except give false hope while the disease advances. In some cases, it may even cause harmful side effects without offering any benefit. For patients already diagnosed at advanced stages, counterfeit drugs wipe out whatever slim chance of survival they had.
This is a major crisis that Kenya and Africa must deal with expeditiously. There is a need for thorough inspection of drugs at entry points, tougher penalties for manufacturers and importers, and the stringent monitoring of supply chains. Protecting patients from fake drugs is a moral duty of the government.
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