Authorities Strengthen Regulation of Herbal Remedies

Kenyan lawmakers and health regulators are pushing for tighter oversight of herbal medicine to protect public safety and standardize quality. A new bill — the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Bill, 2025 — would give KEMRI the mandate to test traditional and alternative medicine products using biochemical and clinical trials before they hit the market.
Under the proposed legislation, the sale of herbal remedies would face stricter controls: unverified claims about health benefits would be criminalized, and penalties could include fines of up to KSh 3 million or three years in jail. The bill also proposes a national database to document validated traditional knowledge, aiming to protect indigenous plant-based medicines from exploitation.
Additionally, the Kenya Drugs Authority Bill (2022) is being updated to make regulation of herbal products more rigorous. Parliament has approved a version that establishes the Kenya Health Products and Technologies Authority (KHPTA), which would replace the current regulatory body and oversee the registration, inspection, and licensing of herbal medicines, medical devices, and other health products.
Health officials also say that new quality control mechanisms will require herbalists to register their products and submit them for laboratory analysis. Some herbalists are mixing pharmaceutical drugs into their products and claiming they are purely ‘natural,’ said Edward Abwao, Assistant Chief Pharmacist at the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, in an interview.