Kenya will require medicines entering the country to carry a unique global identifier from January 1, 2027, under a government directive aimed at improving the tracking and verification of medical products.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

The requirement was revealed by Dr Joyce Wamicwe, Technical Lead for Digital Health and Informatics at the Digital Health Agency (DHA), during the Kenya Health Summit in Nairobi on Tuesday, August 18.

Wamicwe said the DHA is working with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) to ensure imported medicines can be uniquely identified throughout the supply chain.

The required identifier will include internationally recognised data matrix codes that contain product information, in contrast to some medicines that currently only have conventional barcodes.

📌 What You Need to Know

“What we are working on with PPB is to uniquely identify health products. Medicines have a global standard, a data matrix with a lot of numbers, which is used to uniquely identify the product. Currently, some medicines only have a barcode, but we want all medicines coming into Kenya to have the identifier, and we are working with PPB to ensure this happens. From January 1, any medicines coming into the country must have the unique identifier,” Wamicwe said.

According to the technical lead, a transition period is already underway, with products that already have the required global identification being prioritised before the new requirement takes effect for all medicines coming into Kenya.

The system is intended to make it easier for authorities and health providers to verify where medicines came from and trace them as they move through the supply chain.

It will also support efforts to detect substandard and falsified products before they reach patients and help establish the authenticity of medicines in circulation.

In addition, the government is also developing a National Product Catalogue that will provide a standard reference for medicines and other health products used by those prescribing, dispensing and supplying them.

The catalogue is being integrated into digital health systems, including the Taifa Care Hospital Management Information System, to improve the recording and management of medicines in health facilities.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke