Killer counterfeits: How fake malaria drugs claim 100,000 lives every year

Community health promoters  at Mwembe kati village in Chonyi during the 2015 World Malaria Day celebration. [File, Standard]

In April 2024, Benson Wambugi*, a farmer in Kieni, Nyeri, spent weeks battling a persistent fever and body aches. The rains had been heavy, and he suspected he had contracted malaria. He walked to the small pharmacy near his home.

The pharmacist was a young man with no formal medical training. After listening to Wambugi, the pharmacist handed him a pack of pills. “These are effective and affordable,” the pharmacists said. The packaging mimicked the real ones but was counterfeit. His condition worsened. Only at a local clinic did he get the right medication.