Fakes and chemicals: Indigenous medicine in contemporary Kenya and implications for health equity

Access to effective biomedical treatments for humans and livestock in Kenya is far from universal. Indigenous healing has a significant role to play in contemporary society in Kenya, yet access is not the only reason for this.

Beliefs surrounding the composition of biomedicines, people’s experiences of biomedical care, and issues of counterfeit biomedicines sold over the counter have led to patients seeking care outside of biomedical institutions.

This study used an ethnographic approach to interviews, focus groups and observations to explore local realities of treatment seeking in one rural and one urban study site, for both humans and their livestock, including when, where and how people access certain types of medicines.

Photo credit: IITA Forest and Lake (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture)