Leaders task Health ministry to weigh in on 'manpower' drinks

Leaders of the greater Bushenyi districts have tasked the Ministry of Health and other government authorities to weigh in on sex-enhancement drinks that have flooded the market, yet their efficacy is questionable.

While speaking at a function organized by The Carter Center and the Ministry of Health to celebrate the elimination of the River Blindness Disease from the districts of Mitooma and Bushenyi on Thursday, Mr Benon Karyaija, the Mitooma District chairperson, told the gathering that kombucha drink manufacturers label their products as sexual enhancers for men, and this has caused chaos in communities.

"When advertising the drinks that have flooded the market, manufacturers say their products contain sexual power enhancers when, in actuality, they don’t work and people have not been guided on what to do," he said.

"We have been told that these drinks are a great threat to our future because they affect men’s capacity to have children in the future. We are in danger. Why don’t you, as the Ministry of Health, come up and guide? Do these enhancers work or not? Don’t you care about the health of Ugandans? Mr Karyaija asked.

Mr Jafari Basajjabalaba, the Bushenyi District chairperson, said that the government should come out and provide guidance on top of regulating the so-called manufacturing of sex-enhancement drinks.

"The government, through UNBS, should be serious about regulating these drinks and make sure that manufacturers whose products don’t conform to the required standards are kicked out of the market," he noted.

Dr Alfred Mubangizi, the Acting Commissioner for Vector-Born and Neglected Diseases at the Ministry of Health, said that the efficacy of sex enhancement drinks has for a long time been questionable and Ugandans should watch out when using them.

"We encourage people to go slow on these drinks because they don’t work. They are even harmful to human health because they are mixed with Viagra, which is dangerous to people, especially those with non-communicable diseases. That’s why you hear that someone died in the lodge. Such people get cardiac arrest and die. Ugandans should avoid such drinks," he warned.

The leaders' concerns come a few days after a boda-boda cyclist, Justus Ouma, 30, died in a local lodge in Busia district, Eastern Uganda, after taking excessive sex enhancement pills.