Establishing a pooled procurement mechanism for African pharmaceutical manufacturers is essential if the continent is to reduce its reliance on imports, delegates at an official Group of 20 (G20) side event agreed on Monday.
The recent freeze in US aid, with a sharp reduction in European overseas assistance, has once again highlighted Africa’s lack of production capacity for vital medical supplies, an issue that shot to the fore during the Covid-19 pandemic when African nations were last in line for vaccines when they were in short supply.
Up to 90% of Africa’s medicines and 99% of its vaccines are imported, according to the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). The AU has consequently set a target of manufacturing 60% of the vaccines administered on the continent by 2040.
“If we do not take investment in healthcare seriously, then … when the next pandemic happens, unnecessary lives and livelihoods will be lost,” said Pharmaceuticals Made in SA (Pharmisa) chair Stavros Nicolaou.
He made the case for African countries to aggregate demand with a pooled procurement mechanism, saying it would enable economies of scale and provide greater certainty for manufacturers.
He also called for reform of international procurement agencies such as the global vaccine alliance Gavi, the largest single purchaser of vaccines for Africa.
It has committed to changing its procurement policies to support emerging African vaccine manufacturers, but has shied away from setting specific procurement targets.
“We need the international procurement agencies to start buying for Africa, from Africa,” said Nicolaou.
Delegates agreed on a set of recommendations, which will be passed on to the G20 ministerial tracks on finance and health, which are to host a series of meetings leading up to the G20 heads of state meeting in November.
The recommendations include speeding up existing plans to boost Africa’s pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity, leveraging the mandates of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to establish a continent-wide pooled procurement mechanism, and working on alternative financing models to counter the cuts to foreign aid.
Afreximbank CEO Benedict Oramah said in a speech delivered on his behalf that Africa was home to 1.3-billion people yet had only 375 pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, most of which were in just two countries: Egypt and SA.
“To reverse the situation requires the creation of manufacturing capacities across the continent … [but] our business people cannot invest to create the manufacturing capacities unless there is a market for the products,” he said.
Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi said local production and procurement were important, but the products had to be affordable. “We need to make that choice as a country. Do we buy here, no matter [the] cost?” he said.
The cost of local procurement is a sensitive issue. Two years ago the state-back vaccine facility Biovac lost a crucial contract to supply the health department with childhood vaccines against pneumonia after officials switched to a cheaper version offered by rival Indian pharmaceutical giant Cipla.
Medical Research Council chief scientist Glenda Gray said it was important to invest in the entire value chain, including scientific research.
“Science on our continent is not a luxury. There’s a direct relationship between science and innovation and GDP,” she said.
“We are home [to] about 15% of the world’s population, a quarter of the global burden of disease, and yet we only produce about 2% of the world’s research output,” she said.
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