Africa’s medicines and vaccines market is vast, estimated to be worth $50 billion per year.
But the continent has a longstanding problem: It is reliant on imports for many of these lifesaving medical products. When COVID-19 spread and other countries banned exports or held supplies, Africa was left struggling to access vaccines as it didn’t have the means to fully produce them.
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Efforts are underway to change that before the next pandemic hits, including building up vaccine manufacturing capacities in the continent. Vaccine alliance Gavi launched the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator, paving the way for local vaccine manufacturers to have a chance to supply shots to the alliance. And last weekend the African Union agreed to launch a pooled procurement mechanism for medical commodities to increase the share of medicines and vaccines purchased from local manufacturers and ensure that African countries can access them affordably. The specifics of the mechanism's operation are still being finalized.
African leaders also expanded a COVID-era initiative aimed at scaling up local vaccine manufacturing in the continent to include diagnostics and medicines, and appointed Kenyan President William Ruto to be the continent’s champion for local manufacturing.
But while these efforts help build the continent’s capacity to produce its own vaccines and medicines, significant gaps remain in basic health infrastructure when it comes to responding to a public health threat.
According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 50% of African Union countries don’t have a functional national public health institute, which serves to coordinate national health security. At present, only 23 of 55 countries have it, though 19 are in the process of establishing one
Read: The AU plans to pool resources to unify $50B pharma market (Pro)
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An emerging hotspot
The African continent isn’t just focusing on producing medicines and vaccines. Some countries are also building their defenses to quickly contain a future outbreak.
My colleague Andrew Green recently visited South Africa where he checked out an emerging hotspot for genomics activity on the outskirts of Cape Town. The area houses the Centre for Epidemic Responses and Innovation — the largest genomics facility in Africa, which played a key role in detecting COVID-19 mutations — and the South Africa Medical Research Council’s Genomics Platform.
CERI, in particular, is trying to transform Africa’s outbreak response by building the continent’s capacity to detect outbreaks fast. It is forging partnerships with other institutions to help African researchers sequence genomic data, instead of relying on overseas laboratories that have previously taken years to send back results.
This can be crucial in the case of detecting cholera, for example. By identifying the strain quickly, researchers better understand the threat the disease presents and can help governments and communities prepare for it, Andrew writes.
So far, their efforts have helped identify cholera in Malawi, Rift Valley fever in Kenya, and dengue and chikungunya that both Burkina Faso and Senegal experienced.
But the work is hampered by the high cost of materials, which must be imported. That means paying more for reagents and robotics than what is charged in Europe or North America.
Read: Emerging genomics hub in Africa aims to transform disease response
Into the IBBIS
A new Geneva-based international organization — the International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science, or IBBIS — is dedicating itself to strengthening biosecurity governance.
How? By identifying potential threats linked to the use of biotechnologies and working with organizations in the space to develop practical tools and solutions to prevent them. Their goal: To prevent accidental or deliberate misuse of technologies used in the research and development of medicines and vaccines.
Their first project is making available a free, open-source tool for companies to screen consumer orders of DNA — yes, that’s something one can just buy — to help prevent “bad actors” from weaponizing such services. Many DNA companies don’t screen orders, and no country in the world requires them to.
“We know there are people and groups around the world that are trying to use biology to make weapons to cause harm. And they have to get that from somewhere,” IBBIS Executive Director Piers Millett tells me. “One of the ways you could do that is by trying to order it from some of these companies.”
The organization receives funding from philanthropy funded by high net worth individuals. Millet declined to name funders at this stage, but says “most of the money has come from the tech industry.”
Read: New firm to fight biosecurity threats
The debate continues …
World Health Organization member states are on a two-week marathon to advance negotiations on a pandemic agreement. They only have one more meeting in March, before the World Health Assembly deadline in May. But there remain thorny issues on the table, including the debate around intellectual property rights.
A group of 29 middle-income countries that call themselves the “Group of Equity” insists that the sharing of pathogen data, which helps pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines and therapeutics, must come with commitments to share benefits through IP flexibilities and funding support. Many of them did so during the COVID-19 emergency, but failed to gain early access to COVID-19 medical products.
However, many high-income countries are rejecting this proposal, arguing it would stifle innovation.
Rachel Thrasher, a researcher at Boston University's Global Economic Governance Initiative, explains in an opinion piece for Devex why IP flexibilities are “a must” in a global pandemic agreement.
While IP protection correlates with high innovation in high-income countries, research shows it’s not the same for low- and middle-income countries — where it correlates with decreased access to medicines, she writes.
Opinion: A global pandemic agreement must include IP flexibilities
What we’re reading
MSF condemns deadly Israel attack on its facility in Gaza, which was sheltering staff members and their families. [France 24]
The largest COVID-19 vaccine study to date found that shots were linked to a slight increase in brain, blood, and heart conditions. [Bloomberg]
Some 142 million children will be susceptible to measles infections in 2024, according to WHO. [The Telegraph]
WHO has released its first list of antimicrobials “authorized for use in humans only.” [Health Policy Watch]
Sara Jerving has contributed reporting to this edition of Devex CheckUp.
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
