A six-point roadmap could help Africa reduce its reliance on other regions for medical supplies and create a thriving local manufacturing base, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).
In a report the WEF said the Covid-19 pandemic had shown how difficult it was for one country or entity to create a robust system on its own.
“Singular, siloed efforts are unlikely to sustainably reach the necessary scale. It requires a coordinated manufacturing ecosystem,” the report said.
It said the African Union (AU) and the Africa CDC’s Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing Framework for Action offered a possible blueprint for how to accelerate local manufacturing in a coordinated way.
This model could be replicated to create manufacturing ecosystems diagnostics and therapeutics.
In May 2022 the AU call for organisations buying Covid vaccines in Africa to ensure at least 30% came from local manufacturers after a drop in demand put the future of the continent’s largest production facility – the Aspen Pharmacare facility in Port Elizabeth, South Africa – into doubt.
And in 2020 the UN Economic Commission for Africa called on local manufacturers to step up production as figures showed the continent imported around 94% of pharmaceutical needs at a cost of $16bn each year.
The WEF said it was important to map existing manufacturing capacity. Where this did not exist it might be more efficient to start by developing fill and finish capacities. Full drug manufacturing facilities could then be built up over time.
“Several countries already have capabilities in vaccine and drug manufacturing and fill and finish capacity — the steps that follow production, such as filling syringes, labelling, packaging and quality inspection. But there remains a significant gap to close,” said the report.
The roadmap involves:
1. Coordinating a manufacturing ecosystem across the continent.
Increasing private sector engagement and cross-sectoral collaboration to incentivise investment in these necessary public goods. This would help understand industry needs ranging from infrastructure and staffing to business plans and profit margins.
2. Increasing private sector engagement and cross-sectoral collaboration to incentivise investment in these necessary public goods. This would help governments understand industry needs across infrastructure, staffing, business plans, and profit margins.
3. Ensuring sustainable financing underpinned by government involvement to create long-term domestic and foreign financing. While there has been considerable investment in manufacturing in Africa over the past few years, this have often consisted of one-time investments that don’t consider the supply chain of a product.
4. Creating a streamlined regulatory environment. Weak, misaligned regulatory policies in Africa mean it can often take years for a single product to be approved for use.
5. Facilitating technology co-creation. This involves the collaborative development of new products and services backed by experts and stakeholders – as opposed to sharing technology with insufficient detail and only under limited terms. The latter option leaves national manufacturers still dependent on foreign companies.
6. Aggregating demand for local products to ensure manufacturers can offer prices that are affordable for low and middle-income countries, at the same time covering costs.
“To strengthen global health security, we must support an agenda to develop a sustainable, local manufacturing industry on the African continent,” said the report.
“This will increase access to life-saving health products and reduce reliance on other regions, especially when pandemics and other health crises strike.”
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