By Alufisha Fischer and Alinafe Mlamba
At first, it looks like hope. A WhatsApp notification flashes on the screen. An update on one of the WhatsApp forums you either joined willingly or added. The name is comforting, almost reassuring: Healing Path, Urban Remedy, Total Cure Testimonies. Inside the group, dozens of messages scroll endlessly: photos of herbs claiming victory over HIV.
For more than 800 Malawians, these WhatsApp groups have become a digital lifeline and, health authorities warn, a deadly trap.
An MBC investigation has uncovered how unscrupulous traders are using private WhatsApp forums to market a so-called herbal cure for HIV and AIDS, preying on fear, stigma and desperation in silence, away from public scrutiny.
The operation is simple but effective. Once added to the group, members are flooded with persuasive messages promising healing, renewed strength and most dangerously freedom from lifelong antiretroviral (ARV) medication.
Our reporter posed as a potential buyer and within minutes of expressing interest, a seller based in Lilongwe responded confidently, saying the cure costs K450,000 per bottle, taken over 90 days. After that, he claimed, a person is completely healed.
“The herbal does heal HIV, and we encourage people to stop taking ARVs after completing the dosage as they are completely healed,” he claimed, further saying that so far, about 10 people “have been healed” and have stopped taking ARVs. No medical records were provided. No proof was offered. Yet the certainty in his voice was striking.
This is a business that operates about ten WhatsApp groups, each carefully managed, with a combined membership exceeding 800 people. It is a wide digital net fast, discreet and difficult to trace.
When asked about accreditation, the seller admitted the herbal product is not registered with any regulatory authority. But when asked about side effects, the response was casual. According to him, no one has complained.
But according to health experts, such claims are not just misleading; they are dangerous as there is no cure for HIV.
Malawi’s HIV response has long been hailed as a success story, with widespread access to ARVs since 2003 and improved public awareness. But authorities fear digital scams like these could reverse those gains amassed for over two decades of dedication.
National AIDS Commission (NAC) Chief Executive Officer Dr Beatrice Matanje warns that abandoning treatment can lead to severe illness, drug resistance and death, not only for individuals but for public health at large.
The Pharmacy and Medicines Regulatory Authority (PMRA) has described the operation as criminal.
Director General Mphatso Kawaye said selling unregistered medicines and spreading false HIV cure claims violates the HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Management) Act of 2018.
Under the law, anyone who publishes or spreads misleading, false or inaccurate information about HIV risks a fine of up to K5 million, imprisonment for up to five years, or both.
Kawaye said PMRA will work closely with NAC to track down those behind the scam, despite the challenges posed by encrypted digital platforms.
“We take matters of false HIV cure adverts seriously and we are going to work with NAC to enforce necessary measures,” Kawaye said.
For advocates working with people living with HIV, the danger lies not only in the false medicine but in the private nature of the platform.
Lawrence Khonyongwa, Executive Director of the Malawi Network of People Living with HIV (MANET+), says WhatsApp has become a powerful tool for exploitation. He warns that many victims abandon treatment quietly, out of hope or shame.
“We hope that relevant authorities will take action quickly so that people could be protected from these uncertified and falsified herbals,” Khonyongwa said.
The 2025 national HIV/AIDS data shows that about 1 million people are living with HIV in the country of which 90 percent of these are on Antiretroviral Therapy (ARVs).
