In Abidjan on February 27, 2024, the African Development Fund (AfDB) Board of Directors approved a $11.96 million grant to speed up the creation of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation in Kigali, Rwanda.
The Rwandan government will provide $1.93 million to the Regional Pharmaceutical Sector Support Project with African Development Bank Group Regional Public Good window funding.
“The project should produce considerable benefits (outputs and outcomes) throughout Africa,” said African Development Bank Rwanda local office head Aissa Touré Sarr. Leading-edge research and technology breakthroughs of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation should improve healthcare outcomes by giving access to improved medications and treatments, combating prevalent diseases, and strengthening the continent’s health resilience.
Read also: How Technology Improves Healthcare in Africa
Africa Development Fund aid
African Development Fund assistance should promote access to sophisticated pharmaceutical technologies and pharmaceutical industry regulation in Africa.
In December 2023, Rwanda’s government signed a host country agreement with the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation, established by the African Development Bank Board of Directors in June 2022.
Given the challenges African countries face in accessing technology to manufacture medicines and vaccines, this foundation will promote and negotiate with pharmaceutical multinationals and other Southern countries on sharing technology, know-how, and intellectual property-protected patents.
The organisation will teach African pharmaceutical companies new technology and modernise production locations to boost productivity. A strong continent-wide sector will result from improved industry, R&D ecosystem, and pharmaceutical and vaccine innovation skills.
The Foundation, recognised by the Rwandan government as an international institution, will use the African Development Fund award to buy office equipment, hardware, and software and engage specialists and speciality technological firms to deliver health and pharmaceutical services. In addition to administrative and human resources, specialists will build financial and contract award processes.
Read also: AfDB, IDB, IFAD commit $1B to Nigeria’s agriculture sector
African Union Medicines Agency Partnerships
The African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation will work with the African Union Medicines Agency, Africa CDC, the EU, the WHO, the WTO, the Medication Patent Pool, philanthropic organisations, and bilateral and multilateral agencies and institutions.
Information, awareness, consultancy, manufacturer training in excellent manufacturing practices, and tacit knowledge transfer research tours will also be supported by the initiative. It will improve pharmaceutical quality and safety and hasten the development of a regional mutual recognition system to harmonise East African Community medicine rules. It will support combined reviews of medical product paperwork, inspections of reasonable manufacturing procedures, signal detection and investigations, and antibiotic post-marketing surveillance.
The European Investment Bank and the foundation, the first to engage with the public and commercial sectors in Africa, North America, Europe, and the developing world, have signed a memorandum of agreement. German backing is also significant.