In Kenya, affordable inventory system helps chemists weed out fake drugs

Miti Health is reducing the trade of counterfeit drugs in low income countries via a verification lab and a chemist inventory system.

In East Africa, up to 40 percent of medicinal drugs are either counterfeit, expired or below standard. This can lead to inadequate treatment and drug resistance, as well as a lack of faith in medicine and healthcare providers. Based in Kenya, Miti Health is a non-profit that aims to change this through a verification lab and an affordable inventory system, which will help spot fake or weak drugs.

To begin, chemists subscribe to the Miti Health android app. The system, which works even in areas with poor or irregular internet coverage, enables them to record sales, manage inventory, generate reports and re-order medication. By streamlining their business operations, Miti Health enables chemists to monitor the quality of the drugs from their suppliers, and easily re-order only from the reliable ones. In addition, they can access reports and forecasts for their area, and order in advance of likely outbreaks.

Simultaneously, Miti Health conducts medication testing at their drug quality lab in Kisumu, in order to reduce the number of low-quality drugs in the supply chain. Miti Health was founded in 2013 and recently won funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges Explorations program, which will enable them to integrate mobile payments into their system and offer credit to approved chemists.

Could this system work in other regions?