Local and Regional Manufacturing
Quality health products made in Africa
WACI Health advocates for Africa to make more of the medicines, vaccines and diagnostic tests its people need, and for those products to be safe, affordable and within reach.
Africa currently sources 95% of the active pharmaceutical ingredients it uses, 70% of its medicines and almost all its diagnostic tests from outside the continent. The cost of that dependence falls on patients. Making more products in the region can shorten supply chains, protect countries when global supply breaks down and bring prices down. This depends on regulation, public purchasing and finance working together.
The gap is widest for diagnostics. Africa carries the highest burden of malaria, TB and HIV, yet most of the tests used to detect them are produced abroad. Through Manufacturing to Accelerate Diagnostic Excellence (MADE) in Africa, a Unitaid-funded consortium led by PATH, WACI Health leads community and civil society engagement to build demand for quality-assured diagnostics made on the continent. The initiative supports African companies to meet international quality standards, reach financing and investment, strengthen research and development for diagnostics, and secure steady demand for regionally made tests.
Purpose
What We Do
WACI Health makes the case to governments, regional bodies and global health partners for Africa to produce more of its own health products. It calls for investment in local production of vaccines, diagnostics and medicines, for pooled procurement so countries can buy together at better prices, and for stronger regional institutions such as Africa CDC, in line with the African Union’s health sovereignty agenda. Through its networks, including GFAN Africa and CiSPHA, it brings civil society into these discussions and holds governments to their commitments on local production.
In MADE, WACI Health leads community and civil society engagement. It runs advocacy workshops and campaigns with civil society organisations and communities, so that demand for regionally made diagnostics reflects the needs of the people who use them. The campaign also urges governments to commit to buying these tests. The same approach is taken for maternal health, where the SUPREME Secure project works with manufacturers of blood pressure monitors to get their devices validated for use in pregnancy.
To bring safe, quality-assured products to more patients sooner, WACI Health advocates for every African Union Member State to ratify the treaty establishing the African Medicines Agency (AMA). Based in Kigali, the AMA coordinates the regulation of medical products across the continent, supporting national regulators and promoting shared standards and joint reviews, so manufacturers face fewer duplicated assessments before a product can be sold across borders.
Making products in Africa only helps if people can afford them. WACI Health contributes community priorities on licensing through the Medicines Patent Pool’s Community Advisory Panel and works with national coalitions to lower prices and expand generic supplies of essential medicines.
