Roundtable on supporting the local production of essential medicines in Africa - Meeting Report

Held under the Chatham House Rule, the event, titled “Enabling the Manufacturing of Innovative and Essential Medicines in Africa", brought together over 30 regulators, manufacturers and senior health sector executives for a strategic dialogue focused on identifying and advancing actionable solutions to support the sustainable manufacturing of both innovative and generic medicines across the African continent.   

Discussions were anchored around three guiding questions:  

• What type of strategic partnerships are critical to creating an enabling environment that can accelerate the production of medicines in Africa, including innovative medicines?  

• How can we use the lessons learnt around partnerships and market positions to call for actionable measures to increase regional manufacturing?  

• What policy and regulatory mechanisms are currently in place, or evolving, that can support local manufacturing in Africa through, for example, capacity building, technology transfer, infrastructure development, quality assurance, concessions and procurement? 

Themes from the discussion

The report provides an in-depth look at key themes that emerged during the discussion, including: 

• Strategic partnerships and multi-stakeholder collaboration 

• Demand creation and market-shaping  

• Regulatory strengthening and harmonisation  

• Enforcement, capacity and legal frameworks   

• Effective procurement  

• Technical capacity and investment   

You can read the full PDF of the meeting report for more details on these themes and calls to action discussed during the session.