Many contraceptives and lifestyle disease drugs on sale are counterfeits.

According to government officials, anti-hypertension and anti-diabetes medicines are some of the most counterfeited in the Kenyan market.

The deputy director, Inspectorate and Surveillance at the Kenya Pharmacy and Poisons Board Dr James Owuor said increased counterfeit drugs in the market put many people's health in danger.

"Counterfeiters have found an easy market for their fake products in the unsuspecting consumers," said Dr Owuor.

Dr Owuor said most of the drugs counterfeited either did not have active ingredients, had incorrect quantities of active ingredients or contained wrong ingredients.

"Some of the drugs have high levels of impurities and contaminants," he said.

The board has found that about 10 per cent of the drugs in the market were counterfeited. Additionally, 30 per cent of the medicine sold in the market were not registered.

Head of outreach services section at the World Intellectual Property Organisation Mr Omar Katbi said 10 per cent of all drugs in the world was also counterfeit.

Developing countries

Between 25 per cent and 50 per cent of the drugs in developing countries including Kenya were counterfeited, he said.

"This poses a great danger to consumers who are unaware of the medicines they are using and effects they have on them.

Mr Katbi said thousands of people had died in the world from using counterfeit products which were either poisonous or did not treat the disease as expected.

The availability of the counterfeits in the market raises questions over the performance of the Anti Counterfeit Agency whose work it is to ensure only genuine products are in the market.

Critics have blamed the agency on grounds it is not living up to its mandate.

Agency director Stephen Mallowah admitted that the situation was not good given the dangers fake products posed on users.

"We are planning to commission a study to find out the clear picture of the situation," he said.

Another challenge for the war on the counterfeit drugs, experts says, is the reluctance of pharmaceutical companies to come out and protest that their products are being counterfeited.

Mr George Ngige, assistant security officer at Unilever said the problem was that the moment a company claimed its products were counterfeited, consumers immediately shunned them.

"The moment you claim that a certain product is counterfeited, consumers do not only stop buying it, they go ahead to shun even the genuine ones," he said.

"It therefore becomes better to suffer in silence as you try to work out something," said Mr Ngige.

The deputy director of research and awareness at ACA Dr John Akoten said it was easy for people to counterfeit medicines.

"Producing counterfeit drugs may not require building huge infrastructure or facilities," he said.

"They can be produced in small cottage industries or under the shade of tree without any overheads," said Dr Akoten.

He said the counterfeit drugs had better capacity to deceive, particularly if it is copied to make it look like the original product.

Another challenge is the relative leniency of the penalties compared to the adverse effect of the drugs.

"Lenient punishments for offences tend to encourage criminal activities such as medicine counterfeiting, particularly when the penalties for counterfeiting non-medicinal products are more severe," said Mr Mallowah.

In Nigeria, criminals arrested for counterfeiting of drugs are sentenced to death if found guilty.

With the growing cases of lifestyle diseases, the growing demand for the medicine is leading some people to make money out of crime by manufacturing and distributing counterfeit medicines.

There have been reports that use of counterfeit drugs such as antibiotics can lead to the emergence of resistant organisms and may have an effect on wide section of the population.

In extreme cases, counterfeit drugs may even cause death. According to ACA Act, people found guilty of dealing with counterfeits should receive fines of up to five times the value of the good.

Dr Moses Mwangi, chairman of Kenya Association of Pharmaceuticals Industries, blamed the public for failure to put pressure on the government and manufacturers to fight the menace.

The consumers do not complain when the counterfeits don't work for them, he said.