Africa Renews Push for Greater Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Independence

Africa’s heavy reliance on imported medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients is driving renewed attention to the need for stronger production capacity within the continent.

The continent imports between 70% and 80% of the medicines it consumes, while as much as 95% of the active pharmaceutical ingredients needed to make those medicines are imported, according to the source report.

That dependence leaves African medicine supplies vulnerable to disruptions in international supply chains. The report links the exposure to shocks associated with Covid-19, the war in Ukraine and instability in the Gulf.

A long-running manufacturing plan

The African Union launched its Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa in 2005. However, progress on the plan has stalled, and roughly 36 sub-Saharan African countries are reported to have virtually no medicine manufacturing capacity.

Lenias Hwenda, chief executive officer of Medicines 4 Africa, joined the programme to argue for the development of a robust homegrown pharmaceutical industry and to discuss what would be required to achieve it.

The figures highlight the scale of the challenge facing efforts to expand local production. While the plan provides a continental framework, manufacturing capacity remains highly limited across much of sub-Saharan Africa.

Other pressures across African cities

The report also examines developments in Kenya’s transport sector. Kenya is positioning itself as East Africa’s frontrunner in electric mobility, with roughly 15% of new motorcycles sold in the country now electric.

At the same time, Nairobi still has 20,000 diesel buses operating on its roads every day, illustrating the continued presence of conventional transport alongside the growth of electric motorcycles.

In Côte d’Ivoire, rising housing costs are affecting residents of Abidjan. A decent studio apartment in the city rents for between 100,000 and 150,000 francs, compared with a national minimum wage of 75,000 francs.

Residents are responding to the pressure by turning to co-renting as they seek to manage higher housing costs.

Together, the issues covered in the report reflect wider economic and development pressures across African countries, from the resilience of essential medicine supplies to changes in urban transport and access to housing.