How Africa can manufacture to meet its pharmaceutical needs

By Sharon Isaalah

COVID-19 pandemic exposed Africa’s inadequate capabilities and capacity to manufacture and supply essential drugs and personal protective equipment (PPEs) needed to curb the disease.

Although pharmaceutical products are currently manufactured in countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Morocco and Egypt, as a whole Africa currently imports more than 80 per cent of its pharmaceutical and medical consumables.

It is unsustainable. 1.3 billion people would make up the integrated market after all African countries ratify the AfCFTA. But as far back as 2007, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (now the African Union Development Agency, AUDA-NEPAD) sought to address Africa’s overreliance on imports of pharmaceutical products when it developed the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa (PMPA), as mandated in the Assembly of AU heads of state decision of 2005.

In 2012, the Assembly of Heads of State endorsed a PMPA business plan which consists of a package of technical solutions to some of the critical challenges confronting the continent’s pharmaceutical industry.

Some of the proposed solutions include strengthening the regulatory systems and establishing a one-stopshop for information, data and business intelligence for industry players– governments, the private sector, Regional Economic Communities and so on.

To boost local pharmaceutical production and in turn improve public health outcomes, the PMPA business plan strongly encourages the procurement of medical products from Africa-based companies.

In addition to strengthening the procurement and supply chain management systems, the plan recommends the use of pooled procurement as a mechanism to incentivize local manufacturers to address maternal, new-born and child health.

Improved access, quality, availability and affordability of pharmaceutical products, as well as increased economic benefits through sustainability, competitiveness, and self-reliance of the industry, are some of the objectives of the business plan.

The PMPA business plan underscores the urgency in addressing the challenges facing the industry. One such challenge is a lack of affordable financing and modern technology, which hampers business expansion.

Other challenges are Africa’s small fragmented markets and weak regulatory frameworks. Inadequate human resource capacity also impedes the growth of Africa’s pharmaceutical sector as do poor procurement and supply chain systems and policy incoherencies in countries’ trade, industry, health, and finance departments.

Due to a lack of financial capacity, companies make little or no investments in research and development and in protecting intellectual property.

No single company, government department or organization can by itself address these challenges; it is precisely why the PMPA business plan advocates for multisectoral and multi-stakeholder collaboration.

The good news is that some opportunities are available to be explored