The Government of Kenya recognises that health care is a basic right of the people. Since independence the government has provided health facilities at all levels that were accessible to the people. Drugs form an important and essential part of this health care.

In selecting drugs for the Kenya Essential Drugs List, the vast geography of Kenya which gives rise to different patterns of disease, the different levels of health care and medical expertise available in the country and the existing medical traditions were taken into account. The Kenya Essential Drugs List will be a ‘living list’; regular revisions are planned and suggestions for inclusion and deletion are encouraged.

In conjunction with the Clinical Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Conditions, the Kenya Essential Drugs List will serve as the basis for medical, pharmacy, nursing, and other health training programmes; for prescribing in Ministry hospitals, health centres, and dispensaries; for the supply of drugs to Ministry facilities; and for encouraging expanded local production of the most essential drugs.

The Kenya Essential Drugs List is a valid scientific endeavour to meet the health care and social needs of the population of Kenya.

The regular use of the Kenya Essential Drug List by health care practitioners countrywide will improve and encourage the rational use of available drugs and thus contribute albeit in a modest way towards the realization of the health sector vision of “creating an enabling environment for the provision of sustainable quality health care that is acceptable, affordable and accessible to all Kenyans”.

Dr. R. O. Muga, MBS.
DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL SERVICES

October 2002