Harmacy was designed to generate the coverage needed to raise awareness of a significant health and sustainability issue, to spark conversation and to galvanise action by system actors.

Modelled after unlicensed pharmacies, constructed at Kenya’s largest landfill, stocked with discarded medicines and pharmaceutical waste found on site, Harmacy was a visceral demonstration of the scale of a health and safety crisis that over 85% of Kenyan’s were unaware of and could not solve on their own.

The activation was timed alongside an announcement by our healthcare partner, enabling individuals to take direct action to end their contribution to the issue.

Kenyan households dispose of an estimated 1,800,000 kilograms of expired medicines every year, by throwing them in garbage bins or flushing them down toilets. This improper disposal of expired medicines causes serious environmental and health consequences as they can leach hazardous chemicals into our soil and water, contaminating the environment.

A more immediate and dangerous problem occurs when these medicines end up in landfills, where they are often collected by waste pickers, redistributed and sold to underserved communities who are desperate for affordable treatment. Unfortunately, the consumption of expired medicines can lead to antibiotic resistance, worsening illness and even death.

Every time we throw our expired or unused medicines away in garbage bins or flush them down toilets, we unintentionally harm the environment and, more importantly, people in affected areas who are desperate to enough to resort to buying black market medication.

To raise awareness among the public on safe disposal methods, and to draw attention to a wider need to act, we constructed The Harmacy; a pharmacy located in the country’s largest landfill, which was stocked with expired medicine that had been discarded and was built to replicate common, unlicensed pharmacies in affected communities.

Incorrect disposal of expired medicines creates a complex trail of implications. The solution is simple, correct disposal. Achieving it requires not just increased awareness, but emotional reasons to change and system action to make it as easy as possible.

As we knew that 85% of Kenyan’s were unaware of this issue we worked with our partner Getrude’s Children’s Hospital, one of Kenya’s most trusted healthcare providers, to trail the topic with key media and point towards a solution that could enable individuals to prevent their disposal becoming an issue for everyone.

During our deeply impactful activation moment, Getrude’s announced #DispoSafely to key media, a scheme allowing safe disposal at every Gertrude’s hospital and pharmacy in Kenya. A comprehensive outreach plan amplified this further to bloggers and influencers in the market.

Post launch, the activation and further coverage is deepening awareness and enticing other partners to come onboard.

At Kenya’s largest landfill, located in Dandora slum, Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital constructed an ambient OOH structure; a mock pharmacy using materials found on-site and stocked entirely with medicine and pharma-waste intercepted, just before reaching the landfill.

The Harmacy featured exterior signage, shelf displays, a make-shift isle, and a checkout register. Banners outside The Harmacy gave facts on unsafe disposal in the region and informed visitors about the #DispoSafely program.

On the day of our special build construction and activation, there just so happened to be a surprisingly large delivery of expired medicines, disposed by a pharmacy, no less! We intercepted this and used it to fully stock The Harmacy. This stock was later removed by our team and disposed of correctly.

We then used The Harmacy event to launch #DispoSafely - a program that facilitated the collection and safe disposal of these potentially harmful medicines.

Harmacy became Africa’s first successful public awareness and action campaign to educate the public on correct disposal methods, reaching nearly half of Kenya's entire population.

Combined with the launch of #DispoSafely, a program that dispenses valuable information to the public and facilitates the collection and safe disposal of unused or expired medicine through Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital branches countrywide, audiences were able to understand the individual action they can take, enabling the campaign to have tangible impact. This campaign is just three weeks old and we're looking to rapidly scale up as the year progresses.

Since the first week of April, we've received coverage and attention from some of the region's leading outlets such as Citizen TV, K24 TV and Look-Up TV, Kiss FM, Power FM, Hope FM, HomeBoyz Radio:

• The campaign reached 28,795,000 Kenyans

• The equivalent spend required to achieve the same impact through TV, Radio and OOH is calculated at KSH 19,500,000 (USD 143,382)

• With an execution cost of KSH 648,550 (USD 4,761) we generated KSH 30 for every KSH 1 spent

• Additionally, Earned Value through digital platforms totalled KSH 7,691,500 (approximately USD 56,555), generating online impressions of 11,382,997

• Tone of coverage was universally measured and direct, as planned.

• As a result of the above, we calculate that over a year we will reduce the improper disposal of expired medicines in Kenya by 43%.

Dandora is a slum area and is widely known for having the largest landfill in Kenya. The majority of waste created in Kenya ends up in landfills just like this one. Waste disposed at these landfills is then scavenged by groups of waste pickers, looking for anything valuable to sell or consume.

85% (approx. 48 million) of Kenyans dispose of their medicine incorrectly, unaware of the consequences of their improper disposal due to the lack of existing public awareness programs. This leads to the collection and redistribution of the medications through underground channels and unlicensed pharmacies.

With radio and TV (specifically local news) being by far the most consumed media in the country, we set out to create a brand message and built experience that would capture the media's attention and spread the word by reporting on these channels, promoting well-being for all to an otherwise unreachable audience.