Education CS Fred Magoha, unbeknown to many played a big role in the existence of Viagra in the Kenyan market today.
Reports from Daily Nation on January 21, 2001, indicated that Magoha, then the Dean of the Medical School of the University of Nairobi, was approached by the board of directors of the American Biographical Institute for professional advice before the pill was launched in the East African market.
Magoha was at that moment the Erectile Dysfunction Advisory Council (EDAC) head for Africa, Middle East, India, Pakistan, and Turkey, and his input would be much needed in the production of a drug that was just hitting the markets.
Magoha, who is a specialist in the cancer of the penis, prostate, and testes, was approached by Pfizer Laboratories, the manufacturers of the pill, to advise on how to demystify the atmosphere and cultural barriers that surrounded sexuality in Africa.
"Viagra came with a number of medical and cultural complications. How was it to be sold in Africa where people do not talk openly about sex and where the erection problem is regarded as a curse and not a disease?" he told the Daily Nation.
Magoha is then reported to have sat down at the table of research before he advised fellow doctors on some of the side effects of the drug, after which, it was launched in Nairobi in October 1998 and in Kampala two months later.
Magoha is reported to have been approached by the laboratory due to his constant attendance at the conferences on Viagra world over, where he was spotted by the laboratory and approached to discuss Viagra's side-effects and cultural implications.
He is also reported to have intensely researched on the pill and published his research on the internet, which was then making entry into the academic world.
Magoha's success in medicine is in many ways unrivaled and seems to have rubbed off on family, with his wife Barbara Odudu Essien Magoha being a gynecologist and his son Michael Magoha, who is a neurosurgeon.
He is the recipient of the International Order of Merit which he was awarded in 2001 for his research in the cancer of the penis, a fellow of West African College of Surgeons which he attained in Lagos, Nigeria in 1990.
In 2001, the American Biographical Institute, United States recognized him as "the most admirable and whose excellent performance in the field of urology will be recognised globally in 1,000 World Leaders of Scientific Influence as a permanent record for research, history, and inspiration".
