Indigenous Knowledge, Alternative Medicine and Intellectual PropertyRights Concerns in Kenya
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Kibet_A_Ngetich[1]1 Indigenous Knowledge, Alternative Medicine and Intellectual PropertyRights Concerns in KenyaByKibet A. Ng’etichDepartment of Sociology and AnthropologyEgerton UniversityP. O. Box 536Njoro, KenyaEmail: k_ngetich@yahoo.com11 th General Assembly, Maputo, Mozambique, 6-10 December 2005Theme: Rethinking African Development: Beyond Impasse, TowardsAlternatives
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Kibet_A_Ngetich[1]2 Abstract This paper examines emerging intellectual property rights concerns arising from increasedlocal and international interest in traditional health resources. It discusses the development ininterest in traditional medicine and outlines the intellectual property rights concernsgenerated by the quest for ownership and control of not only the knowledge but also thebenefits that may accrue from indigenous health resources. Intellectual property rightconcerns stands in the path of integrating traditional medicine in efforts to address theMillennium Development Goals (MDGs) for Health. The paper focuses on emergingintellectual property concerns with respect to indigenous medicine in Kenya. It outlinespertinent issues in intellectual property discourse particularly, on the question of whether andto what extent intellectual property rights can productively help protect the different forms ofindigenous knowledge. The paper discusses intellectual property conce