ZAMRA, IBA Move to Tackle Misleading Health Claims on Airwaves

 By Alain kabinda 

A promise of healing on radio or television can reach thousands of people before a regulator has an opportunity to question it.

For a listener searching for hope, a testimony about a spiritual intervention, a traditional remedy or a product said to cure a serious illness may sound like a solution.

They are some of the difficult questions which are now confronting Zambia's broadcasting and medicines regulators as they seek to establish clearer boundaries around spiritual, traditional and cultural content aired on radio and television.

The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority (ZAMRA), Zambia Institute of Marketing and other stakeholders have begun working together to find practical solutions to the growing challenge.

ZAMRA in Partnership with IBA held a stakeholder engagement in Lusaka under the theme “Promoting Responsible Broadcasting of Spiritual, Traditional and Cultural practices” The engagement focuses particularly on advertisements, testimonials, demonstrations and promotional material involving spiritual, traditional and cultural practices where health or therapeutic claims are made.

Speaking at a stakeholders meeting IBA Director General Webster Malido said broadcasting has enormous influence over public opinion, choices and behaviour.

He said, comes with a responsibility to ensure that information reaching audiences is presented accurately and responsibly.

“Broadcasting is a very powerful tool that shapes public opinion, choices and behaviour,” Mr Malido says.

The IBA monitors content aired on radio and television stations to assess compliance with applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and broadcasting standards.

Through this work, the Authority has identified instances involving spiritual and traditional practices, as well as advertisements and promotional material for medical products and services, that have raised concerns from a public-interest and broadcasting perspective.

Mr Malido said that some of the concerns relate to how claims about the effectiveness or benefits of products, treatments and services are presented.

Testimonials and demonstrations can be particularly difficult because audiences may not always be able to distinguish between a person's belief, personal experience, promotional material and information that can be independently verified.

The regulators acknowledge that Zambia's spiritual, religious, traditional and cultural practices are an important part of society.

Mr Malido stressed that the IBA's concern is not with beliefs or practices themselves.

He also said that this is how claims associated with those practices are communicated through broadcasting platforms.

Zambia's Constitution protects freedoms including freedom of expression and religion, while the country's diverse traditional and cultural practices also deserve respect.

The challenge is therefore to find a balance between protecting those freedoms and protecting audiences from content that could potentially mislead or cause harm.

“We need to look at how we can find an appropriate balance — one that respects legitimate spiritual, religious, traditional and cultural beliefs and practices while protecting members of the public from content that could potentially” cause harm, Mr Malido said.

That balance is becoming particularly important when a spiritual or traditional claim moves beyond an expression of belief and begins to promise the prevention, treatment or cure of a disease.

And ZAMRA Director General Mr. Makomani Siyanga said that the authority has a responsibility, together with other institutions, to protect the public from potential harm arising from misleading health claims and unlawful advertising and promotion of medical products.

Mr Siyanga said ZAMRA, IBA and the Zambia Institute of Marketing had already met in March 2026 to discuss advertising of approved medicines and allied substances.

The latest engagement, he said that reflects a broader “one government” approach to addressing complex issues involving advertising, public health and consumer protection.

“Every day members of the Republic are exposed to advertisements making extraordinary claims about products, services or interventions purporting to cure diseases,” Mr Siyanga said.

Some of these claims may be rooted in traditional, cultural or religious beliefs and practices that are deeply embedded in communities.

But when such claims are used to advertise or promote products, particularly unapproved products, the public can potentially be exposed to harm.

Mr Siyanga draws attention to Section 62 of the Public Health Act, which prohibits the advertising of medicines, appliances, articles or claims purporting to cure or benefit certain diseases and conditions specified under the law.

He also noted that monitoring of print and electronic media has shown that some advertisements continue to make claims that may fall within the concerns addressed by the provision.

The problem is that a claim presented as spiritual or supernatural may also amount to a health or therapeutic claim.

“We need to answer where spiritual expression ends and where a regulated health claim begins,” Mr Siyanga said.

The question becomes even more important when an advertisement moves from saying that a person believes in a particular intervention to claiming that the intervention can prevent or cure a disease.

Mr Siyanga is quick to clarify that ZAMRA does not regulate traditional beliefs or traditional medicine practices as such.

The authority regulates conventional medicines and allied substances, including medicines formulated in conventional forms such as tablets, capsules, syrups and injections, as well as products assessed through established regulatory processes.

Mr Siyanga added that does not mean traditional knowledge should be excluded from discussions about safety, quality and ethical marketing.

He challenged stakeholders to consider how traditional knowledge and practices could be further developed into properly formulated, scientifically evaluated and evidence-based medicines.

Where products meet the required regulatory standards, he says, they can be submitted for registration. Such a process could provide greater assurance regarding their quality, safety and effectiveness while potentially creating opportunities for wider markets.

when a claim is repeated on radio or television, audiences may interpret its appearance on a recognised media platform as an indication that the claim has been verified.

That is why Mr Malido says broadcasters have an important responsibility and The IBA wants today's engagement to go beyond identifying problems and instead produce practical outcomes.

Stakeholders are expected to examine legal, ethical, consumer protection, health, religious, traditional and cultural considerations surrounding advertisements, testimonials, demonstrations and other promotional content.

So this end Zambia must protect freedom of expression and religion while also ensuring that people are not misled by health claims broadcast to the public.

Their concern is what happens when belief is presented as a verifiable medical fact or used to promote a product or service claiming to treat a disease.

Mr Malido says the measures developed from the engagement should respect the rights, beliefs and cultural diversity that are important to Zambian society.

“Our collective responsibility is to ensure that broadcast informs rather than misleads, protects rather than exploits, and strengthens public trust,” he said.

Mr Siyanga similarly calls for broadcasters, regulators and other stakeholders to develop a common understanding of regulatory boundaries and clarify their respective responsibilities.

But for regulators, the difference between a spiritual testimony, a personal experience and a medical claim can have significant implications when the subject is a serious illness.

Ultimately, the regulators have said that the airwaves must remain a place where Zambia's diversity can be expressed while audiences are protected from potentially misleading health information.