In Summary
  • Deal will affect HIV, TB and cancer patients.
  • Deal gives few companies right to manufacture drugs
  • Civil Society Groups alarmed by provisions in the CEPA agreement that are apparently extremely detrimental to Kenya’s Health Sector.
  • The groups are calling on the legislators to propose reservations to the CEPA treaty and insist on removal of obligations that go beyond the TRIPS Agreement and insist on the inclusion of a market access chapter

Kenyans living with HIV and those suffering from Cancer and Tuberculosis are calling on Parliament to make changes to the agreement between Kenya and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January this year (2025) regarding to patenting of drugs.

Eco News Africa Director Edgar Odari who is leading the push for the review of the agreement says the clauses in the agreement that gives only a few companies the right to manufacture and sale some of the lifesaving drugs in the country will lead to the high cost of the essential drugs.

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“Sometime in 2022 up to 2024 there was shortage of inhalers globally, and the reason was that a company that had monopolized shut down factories in the US, The price of some inhaler Rose from 400 shillings to 1000 shillings, “ Peter Owiti, member network of TB Champions said.

Treaty Red Flag

A number of Civil Society Organizations among them Action aid Kenya, International Institute of Legislative Affair among other CSO’s convened to discuss on the detrimental effects of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed between Kenya and UAE on 14th January 2025 with regards to medication.

“If what I have seen today goes through the way it is, it means that even the Kenyan government might not be able to afford those drugs that we take every day,”

The main red flag in this Agreement they say is the fact that the CEPA Agreement does not have market access provisions where tariffs are negotiated to reduce the prices of goods.

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The groups are calling on the legislators to propose reservations to the CEPA treaty and insist on removal of obligations that go beyond the TRIPS Agreement and insist on the inclusion of a market access chapter.

Concerns were raised about how these provisions could delay access to affordable generic medicines in Kenya, especially for non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Additionally the Participants stressed the need to preserve Kenya’s policy space to safeguard the constitutional right to health.

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