Kenyan patients living with HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and cancer have raised alarms over a trade agreement between Kenya and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), warning that certain provisions in the deal could severely limit access to life-saving medicines and significantly drive up their costs.
The concerns were raised during a stakeholder forum in Nairobi on April 8, 2025, where patient advocacy groups and organizations urged the Kenyan Parliament to review the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that was signed in January 2025 by President William Ruto and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Critics argue that the agreement grants exclusive rights to a select group of pharmaceutical companies, allowing them to manufacture and sell specific medications in Kenya. This, they claim, could monopolize the supply of critical drugs and reduce the availability of more affordable, generic alternatives.
Edgard Odar, the Director of Econews Africa, one of the organizations leading the opposition to the deal, highlighted that the agreement threatens to make essential medicines unaffordable for millions of Kenyans. Odar emphasized that in Kenya, like in many democratic economies, trade treaties should be subject to parliamentary oversight and local ratification before being finalized. However, he pointed out that in Kenya’s case, many trade agreements, including the CEPA, are signed without adequate consultations with stakeholders or specialists. Public participation typically occurs after the agreements are already concluded, which he believes is problematic. In contrast, he noted that in countries like the United States, trade deals require parliamentary approval and thorough stakeholder involvement before they are negotiated.
The potential impact on patients is concerning. For TB patients, the rising costs of essential medications could have devastating consequences. Peter Owiti, from the Network of TB Champions, recalled a previous global shortage of salbutamol inhalers that led to a sharp price increase in Kenya. When a major manufacturer in the U.S. shut down its factory, the price of the inhalers skyrocketed from Ksh400 to Ksh1,000. This experience serves as a warning of how vulnerable Kenyan patients are to price fluctuations in a market that could be monopolized by a few pharmaceutical companies under the terms of the CEPA.
Cancer patients also face dire financial projections due to the agreement. Felix Mutiso, the founder of Cancer Must Bow, highlighted the devastating impact of high treatment costs on patients. In 2021, cancer patients were spending up to Ksh250,000 every 21 days for treatment. Under the provisions of the CEPA, the costs could escalate dramatically, potentially reaching as high as Ksh2.5 million for the same treatment duration. Mutiso and other advocates fear that such costs will make cancer treatment unaffordable for many Kenyans, threatening their ability to continue their fight against the disease.
Another significant issue raised by advocacy groups is the lack of meaningful parliamentary oversight of the CEPA. Critics argue that lawmakers failed to properly scrutinize the agreement before endorsing it. The agreement aims to enhance trade and investment ties between Kenya and the UAE, eliminate trade barriers, simplify customs procedures, and promote industrialization. However, the provisions on intellectual property rights are of particular concern. Critics argue that the deal strengthens patent protections for certain pharmaceutical companies, making it harder for Kenya to produce or import generic versions of essential drugs. Generic alternatives have played a crucial role in the country’s efforts to combat HIV and cancer, and the new restrictions could undermine these gains.
The coalition of advocacy groups, led by Econews Africa, is calling on Kenyan lawmakers to intervene before the pharmaceutical provisions of the CEPA are implemented. They urge the government to reconsider the potential impact on public health and ensure that trade agreements do not come at the expense of access to affordable medicines for the country’s most vulnerable populations.
