By: Fumnaya Ijeh
The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, on Wednesday, signed an agreement with the African Development Bank, AfDB to boost the pharmaceutical industry in West Africa.
The agreement worth $3.56m, was signed in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital to increase local manufacturing of high-quality, safe, effective, and accessible essential medicines, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines in the region.
According to the Director-General of the AfDB, Nigeria’s Country Office, Lamin Barrow, the grant was to develop a robust pharmaceutical sector that will ensure increased local manufacturing of essential drugs and medicines that are of high quality, safe and accessible to the population in the West Africa region.
Barrow said, “Guided by our Regional Integration Strategy Paper for West Africa 2020 to 2025, the Bank has ramped up its support to the ECOWAS region while being more responsive to the emerging priority and needs of the member countries.
“Currently, the Bank’s active portfolio in West Africa is comprised of 350 projects for a total commitment value of $15.5 billion, out of which Nigeria accounts for 32 per cent.
“These investments are mainly focused on building resilient infrastructure and supporting regional enterprise development to boost industrialization.”
He said the move will also address Africa’s reliance on imports, which is estimated around 70 per cent of pharmaceutical products sourced from imports, largely from South East Asia.
“Local vaccine production capacities meet less than 1 per cent of the domestic demand. The COVID-19 crisis has further exposed the fragility of our national health systems and posed significant disruptions to health and pharmaceutical supply chains,” Barrow stated.
He explained that, furthermore, the project would advance the Bank’s efforts to support the harmonization of the regulations and standards for pharmaceutical products across the continent and also contribute to increased intra-African trade and boost regional integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA.
He explained that the move will build a resilient healthcare system and sustainable post-pandemic economic recovery in the region.
For the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean Claude Kassi Brou said, “this long-standing cooperation has already focused on support for industrial development, particularly within the framework of the strategy of the Automotive Industry and the Pharmaceutical Industry which is the subject of the signing of this Agreement today”.
“This Convention is of vital importance from a health point of view since it will be used for the production of vaccines and other medicines for the benefit of our populations”
He added that the ECOWAS Commission and the West African Health Organization are committed to making good use of this grant in the interest of the population of the Community.
Mr Lamin Barrow, Director General, Nigeria Country Department of AfDB signed on behalf of the Bank while Dr Jean -Claude, the President ECOWAS Commission signed on behalf of the Commission.
Background
In response to the call from the African Union, the African Development Bank is taking a lead role in driving the implementation of the continental Vision and Action Plan for a new African Pharmaceutical order. Last year President Adesina announced that the Bank would mobilize up to $3 billion to support the development of Africa’s health infrastructure defence system, including the pharmaceutical industry
As part of this support, the Bank, on January 25, 2022, approved the $3.56 million in this project whose objective is to develop a robust pharmaceutical sector that will ensure increased local manufacturing of essential drugs and medicines that are of high quality, safe and accessible to the population in the West Africa region.
The ECOWAS Commission will contribute $600,000 to complement the Bank’s financing.
