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This will be the second independence of Africa, says CDC Africa Director General, Dr. Jean Kaseya
ANALYSIS | AGENCIES | African leaders have reached agreement to create a robust future market for medical products for African manufacturers valued at US$50 billion.
Spearheaded by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), a pooled procurement mechanism was agreed upon and signed off at the African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa.
According to its promoters, this decision is significant because it creates predictable demand so manufacturers can plan for the long term to create a viable vaccine manufacturing ecosystem.
“The decision means creating a robust market for manufacturers and ensuring the health security of all Africans. This will be the second independence of Africa,” said the Director General of Africa CDC, Dr. Jean Kaseya.
The African market size for medicines and vaccines is approximately worth US$50 billion annually. Africa CDC will lead the pooled procurement initiative in collaboration with continental and global partners. The move is also designed to ensure that African Union member states can get better deals on price.
The African Union has also voted to appoint Kenyan President William Ruto of Kenya as the local manufacturing champion to ensure the continent reaches its goal of vaccine self-reliance.
Thismove keeps local manufacturing on the agenda for the continent and the world and prioritises health security for the African population. Less than one per cent of vaccines are currently manufactured on the continent. African leaders aim that 60% of the vaccines to be manufactured in Africa by 2040.
In a significant move, the AU also voted to broaden the Africa CDC’s mandate to include the manufacturing of medicines and diagnostics, in addition to its current remit of vaccines.
The Africa CDC is a continental autonomous Public Health agency of the African Union which supports Member States in their efforts to strengthen health systems and improve surveillance, emergency response, prevention and control of diseases.
In a related development, members of the African Medicines Agency Treaty Alliance (AMATA) have told AU Member States attending the summit to expedite the final set-up of the African Medicines Agency (AMA), which is supposed to help create a more unified regulatory market, essential to pooled procurement.
AMATA, an alliance representing African patients, academia, civil society, and industry, also called upon the 28 remaining AU states that have not yet ratified the AMA treaty to do so rapidly.
They said the ratification and deposit of instruments by all 55 Member States is imperative to unify them as one Pan-African Medicines Regulatory Family and to pave the way for the practical implementation of the Agency.
Rapid establishment of the African Medicines Agency remains critical to “open up more opportunities to boost local manufacturing capacities, promote country participation in clinical research and foster other scientific development activities.
Some of Africa’s leading economic powerhouses like South Africa and Nigeria, remain holdouts – and are not even signatories on the treaty to date. Others are Botswana, Zambia. Mozambique, Angola, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Libya and the Central African Republic.
