📋 Tender Overview
We are losing too many children to diseases due to lack of vaccines which could be manufactured in Africa said Vera Songwe UN Under-Secretary-General and ECA Executive Secretary.She was speaking at the Africa Investment Summit on Health AIS held on the sidelines of the 76th United Nations General Assembly on 20 September. Ms. Songwe explained that manufacturing vaccines on the continent will save lives and ensure that more children go to school every day grow healthy and innovate.The ECA chief said that since the launch of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement Africas public and private sector are gradually grasping the opportunities for economic prosperity stating that there are enormous business opportunities in Africas healthcare market. Imports of medicines and medical equipment rose from USD 4.2 billion in 1998 to USD20billion in 2018 for example. Africas private can and should be a part of Africas health security solution. This will create jobs build capacity grow imports and potentially reduce health care costs. Ms. Songwe went on to say that at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic Africa demonstrated its ability to pool procurement create instruments institutions and demonstrate the power of innovative financing to solve our biggest challenge- getting COVID-19 vaccines. We demonstrated that by working together we can do a lot more to improve Africas health outcomes.The Summit was convened by the Economic Commission for Africa ECA the African Business Coalition for Health ABCHealth and the National Institutes of Health NIH to discuss strategies that will significantly increase access to vital health commodities and supplies in Africa leveraging the AfCFTA and African Medicines Agency AMA.Stakeholders at the summit agreed that there is a necessity to boost Africas capacity to manufacture pharmaceutical products that are of quality safe and internationally recognized to prepare for future pandemics while creating jobs for young Africans. Aigboje Aig Imoukhuede Chairman of ABCHealth said through the West Africa AfCFTA-anchored Pharmaceutical Initiative is designed to foster local production of drugs and medical equipment in West Africa and ultimately the rest of the continent drawing on the lessons of the parent AfCFTA-anchored Pharmaceutical Initiative.He said the initiative will provide a Centralised Pooled Procurement Mechanism CPPM and showcase health business opportunities for private sector investment that will - in the long run - create jobs save cost and productivity gains for sustainable and inclusive development in Africa. Monique Msanzabaganwa Vice Chairperson of the African Union Commission described the Covid-19 pandemic as a challenge and a learning opportunity for the continent. She highlighted the need for African countries to commit to fulfilling their pledge of allocating 15 per cent of their budgets to health.The West Africa AfCFTA-Anchored Pharma initiative announced during AIS was designed to foster local production of prescription drugs and medical equipment in West Africa and ultimately the rest of the continent drawing on the lessons of the parent AfCFTA-anchored Pharmaceutical Initiative.Ibrahim Mayaki Chief Executive Officer of the New Partnership for Africas Development NEPAD said in 2012 Africa Member States endorsed the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa PMPA to ensure self-reliance for access to essential safe and quality and affordable pharmaceuticals across all essential medicines and contribute to improved health outcomes. Mr. Mayaki noted however that challenges such as access to affordable capital for manufacturers access to technology and know- how access to market policy regulations and investment in intellectual property must first be addressed.The importance of a new public health order to enable Africa tackle infectious diseases of the 21st century was highlighted by Africa CDC director Dr. John Nkengasong who said vaccine-related innovation was critical for Africas health security. Dr. Nkengasong said initiatives like the Partnership for Africa Vaccine Manufacturing PAVM should be encouraged adding We are calling for new funding models that are coordinated and aligned with the continental aspirations on local vaccine manufacturing. The summit brought together businesses development institutions and philanthropists to catalyze substantial investment in African pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity towards significantly increasing access to vital health commodities and supplies in Africa and beyond. Dr. Roger Glass Director of the Fogarty International Center and Associate Director for Global Health at the National Health InstituteNHI said partnership with Africa is of utmost importance to the NHI.South-south partnerships have to be encouraged around Africa but we also need North-South partnerships to bring some of the newest technologies and see how they could be adapted locally. He highlighted the need to get Africas diaspora scientists engaged back in the continent given their understanding of the landscape and sensitivity to local needs citing Africa CDC director Dr Nkengasong as a good example in this regard.Representing the voice of African youth Nigerias Dr Chiamaka Nwachukwu called for a shift from the conversation where young people are seen as leaders of tomorrow and heirs of existing structures to one where we see them as collaborators and co-owners in the present. The summit also announced that East Africas Biodeal Laboratories had won a bid to receive investment and Good Manufacturing Practice support to manufacturer MNCH products under the AfCFTA-anchored Pharma Initiative that had previously been launched in East and Southern Africa countries including small Island States.
