Supply Chain Awards Africa’s push for Health self-Reliance

by Kamogelo Mampane

As Africa strides towards self-reliance in health security, the Pan African Supply Chain Awards emerge as a crucial platform. These Awards not only recognise and incentivise local health product manufacturing excellence but also play a significant role in achieving the African Union’s ambitious target of producing 60% of the Continent’s vaccines by 2040.

Your support can make a difference in this monumental journey.

Supporting the Pan African Supply Chain Awards is a strategic move for African Ministries of Health. The Awards recognise and incentivise excellence in local manufacturing and align with the African Union’s ambitious health and economic goals. These Awards pave the way for a healthier, more self-reliant Africa by fostering innovation, reducing costs, and supporting local manufacturers. The prescription is clear for a continent striving towards health security and economic prosperity: celebrate and support local production.

The upcoming Pan African Supply Chain Awards, set to take place on 26 October in Johannesburg, South Africa, will bring together supply chain professionals and key figures in the health sector. This prestigious event, supported by health ministries across the Continent, celebrates projects significantly advancing local health product manufacturing.

With the growing demand for locally produced medicines, vaccines, and other health products, the awards recognise initiatives that have built sustainable supply chains and improved healthcare outcomes. By shining a light on these pioneering efforts, the Pan African Supply Chain Awards showcase models that can be replicated to boost manufacturing and distribution capacity across Africa.

The Pan African Supply Chain Awards are mainly focused on addressing challenges in the pharmaceutical sector, where the ability to manufacture and distribute medicines efficiently is essential to tackling health crises. The Awards aim to inspire further innovation and development in health supply chains, by recognising the best practices in this area.

This event is a key opportunity for health ministries to highlight their contributions and encourage investment in local production, ultimately ensuring that Africa becomes more self-sufficient in meeting its healthcare needs.

The Pan African Supply Chain Awards celebrate projects significantly contributing to local health product manufacturing. By recognising these efforts, the Awards highlight successful models and best practices that can be replicated across the Continent. This recognition is vital for several reasons:

1. Highlighting successful projects encourages further investment in local manufacturing. For instance, the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA) has committed up to $1 billion to support vaccine manufacturing in Africa, underscoring the importance of financial backing for local initiatives.
2. Countries that excel in increasing locally produced health products and technologies set a benchmark for others. For example, the establishment of nine commercial-scale production facilities and the commitment of three manufacturers to produce eight vaccines for the African market by 2030 are milestones worth celebrating.
3. The Awards recognise projects that reduce dependency on global supply chains, ensuring timely and equitable access to life-saving products. This is crucial, as Africa meets only 0.1% of its vaccine demand through local production.
4. The Awards contribute to reducing the disease burden on the Continent, by fostering local production. The AVMA, for instance, aims to improve Africa’s resilience to pandemics and other health emergencies, directly supporting the AU’s health security goals.
5. Producing vaccines and other health products locally can reduce costs significantly. The AVMA’s subsidies, payable upon WHO prequalification and successful delivery, are designed to offset high initial production costs, making local manufacturing economically viable. The development of the pool procurement framework and now under the leadership of The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is an indication of strong leadership by the African Union to ensure that the African Union’s goal of achieving universal health is realised and creates a sustainable market of 1.5 billion people – with around 40 per cent of the population aged 15 years and younger.
6. The implementation of a pool procurement mechanism is expected to create predictable demand for local manufacturers to plan their production lines and secure the required funding and partnership from government and international manufacturers that meet the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). Developing a robust pharmaceutical manufacturing sector can create millions of jobs and stimulate economic growth. The African Development Bank estimates local
7. l manufacturing could create up to 16 million jobs by 2030, contributing to broader economic development.
8. The African Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM) aims to aggregate demand and provide direct access to quality medicines, promoting manufacturing localisation. This initiative ensures that local manufacturers have a stable market for their products.
9. Projects that streamline regulatory processes and ensure quality standards must be recognised. The African Medicines Agency (AMA) operationalisation is crucial for this, as it helps ensure that locally manufactured health products meet global quality standards.

South Africa’s National Health Insurance (NHI) system exemplifies the benefits of supporting local health product manufacturing. By prioritising local production, the NHI can reduce costs, improve access, and ensure a stable supply of essential medicines. This model can be replicated across the Continent to achieve similar benefits.

Health ministries’ role is pivotal in encouraging collaboration between the public and private sectors, enhancing local manufacturing capabilities. The Awards ceremony applauds successful projects and serves as a platform for knowledge-sharing and partnership-building.’’

Kamogelo Mampane is the Chairperson of Supply Chain Council and CEO of TK Global Experts