Key Changes for Pharmaceutical Products and Import/Export in Africa

 

Despite the fact that pharmaceutical items are currently made in countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, and Egypt, Africa as a whole import more than 80% of its pharmaceutical and medical consumables. However, as early as 2007, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (now the African Union Development Agency, AUDA-NEPAD) sought to address Africa's overreliance on pharmaceutical imports by developing the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa (PMPA), as mandated by the 2005 Assembly of AU heads of state decision.

In 2012, the Assembly of Heads of State approved a PMPA business plan, which includes a set of technical answers to some of the continent's most pressing difficulties in the pharmaceutical industry.

Some of the proposed solutions include strengthening regulatory processes and developing a one-stop shop for information, data, and business intelligence for industry actors such as governments, the private sector, RECs, and so on.

The PMPA business strategy actively encourages the acquisition of medical products from African-based enterprises in order to boost local pharmaceutical production and, as a result, improve public health outcomes.

The strategy promotes pooled procurement as a way to motivate local manufacturers to address maternal, new born, and child health, in addition to upgrading procurement and supply chain management systems. Some of the business plan's objectives include improved access, quality, availability, and affordability of pharmaceutical products, as well as greater economic advantages from the industry's sustainability, competitiveness, and self-reliance.

The PMPA business strategy emphasises the importance of tackling the industry's difficulties. One such barrier to business expansion is a lack of affordable funding and sophisticated technologies. Africa's small fragmented marketplaces and inadequate regulatory frameworks are further issues.

Inadequate human resource capability, as well as inefficient procurement and supply chain processes and policy incoherencies in countries' trade, industry, health, and finance sectors, all limit the expansion of Africa's pharmaceutical sector. Companies invest little or nothing in research and development or intellectual property protection due to a lack of financial resources.

No single corporation, government department, or group can address these difficulties alone; this is why the PMPA business plan pushes for cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder collaboration. The good news is that some opportunities exist to be pursued.

African manufacturers, who today operate in small, fragmented markets, are unable to compete with Asian rivals, who operate in substantially larger markets and hence benefit from economies of scale. Because of increased production quantities, economies of scale assist firms in saving money.

When all African nations ratify the AfCFTA, a market of 1.3 billion people will be integrated, with a potential market of 2.2 billion people by 2050. African producers might expect huge scale and scope economies. The AfCFTA should kick off free trade in January 2021.

A pooled procurement structure will encourage prominent global generic pharmaceutical firms to establish plants in Africa or to collaborate with African pharmaceutical companies to manufacture generic goods. This type of strategic support for local pharmaceutical production is required (LPP).

Already, African pharmaceutical producers have formed a federation to share information and commercial intelligence and to speak with one voice. In addition, plans are in the works to establish a fund for the sector that will compensate enterprises for financial shortcomings.

Africa, without a doubt, requires integrated markets. It must put in place trade facilitation policies. To ensure the quality of medical products and that local manufacturers adhere to international standards, countries must strengthen and harmonise their regulatory frameworks. When fully executed, the PMPA business plan will employ millions of Africans and usher in a knowledge economy that will power the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

To answer the question posed at the start of this post, yes, Africa has the potential to produce its own medicines. The PMPA business plan is the best option.