Pharmaceutical innovation is making a big noise in Africa, especially during the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB), held in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt from May 22 to 26, 2023. An event dedicated to the creation of an African foundation for pharmaceutical technology was organized on the sidelines of this meeting.
This initiative, launched next July by the AfDB, aims to better prepare Africa for future pandemics by promoting regional production and innovation capacities. The region will thus be able to better face these challenges and develop regional health security policies.
Several speakers followed one another at the parallel event: political personalities such as Ms. Barbel Kofler from the Federal Republic of Germany or the Minister for International Cooperation of Egypt, Ms. Rania Al Mashat, and professionals from the health sector , like Christian Happi of ACEGI or Padmashree Gehl Sampath, Senior Advisor to the AfDB.
Mr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the AfDB, raised the importance of this initiative to enable Africa to produce its own medicines, vaccines and other pharmaceuticals in the event of a pandemic. He notably recalled the difficulties encountered by the continent during the Covid-19 epidemic, due to low local production capacity and unavailability of drugs.
Participants emphasized that the establishment of this foundation will provide a platform to catalyze technologies in a cooperative and inclusive manner. It is a question of learning the lessons of the past to better prepare for the future, and of favoring incentive measures for pharmaceutical companies, the construction of regional production in the pharmaceutical sector, greater flexibility to develop value chains , technological partnerships, quality and compliance respecting standards, and finally the mobilization of local resources, vertical and horizontal.
In short, the creation of an African foundation for pharmaceutical technology is a real asset for the African continent in order to face future pandemics by strengthening the health system. This represents new hope for pharmaceutical innovation in Africa