President John Dramani Mahama has challenged African financiers, regulators and industrialists to take concrete steps towards building a self-sufficient pharmaceutical industry on the continent.
He said Africa’s health sovereignty could not be achieved through government funding alone and called for increased participation by private capital, commercial banks, sovereign funds and industrial developers.
Addressing the Health Plenary of the Alamein Africa Forum in Egypt, President Mahama said the continent must create the conditions necessary to attract long-term investment into pharmaceutical manufacturing and healthcare infrastructure.
“Governments cannot and should not fund this transition alone. We need private capital, industrial developers, commercial banks and sovereign funds to participate,” he said.
President Mahama said initiatives such as Business United for Mothers, Babies and Youth are intended to encourage corporate Africa to integrate health investment directly into its capital allocation and business strategies.
He also challenged financiers to identify the specific incentives and risk-sharing mechanisms they needed from governments to deploy patient capital into pharmaceutical manufacturing plants.
“What’s the specific de-risking instruments and blended finance structures you need from our governments to deploy patient capital into African pharmaceutical manufacturing plants?” he asked.
The President also directed a question at African regulators, asking how quickly the African Medicines Agency could be fully operationalised to allow a single drug approval to open access to all 54 African Union member states.
He argued that harmonising regulatory processes would significantly reduce the barriers facing pharmaceutical companies seeking to operate across multiple African markets.
President Mahama further challenged industrialists to move beyond basic pharmaceutical packaging and fill-and-finish operations towards full-scale production.
He asked what strategic partnerships were required to enable African manufacturers to begin producing active pharmaceutical ingredients on the continent.
According to the President, answering these three questions would be critical to bringing governments and businesses together to create a sustainable health manufacturing ecosystem.
He said Africa already possessed the market, human resources and growing demand required to support a thriving pharmaceutical industry.
However, he noted that the continent needed stronger coordination, investment and political commitment to convert those advantages into production capacity.
President Mahama said local pharmaceutical manufacturing would not only improve access to medicines but also protect African economies from international supply disruptions, conserve foreign exchange and create high-value employment.
He urged participants at the forum to move beyond declarations and develop a concrete action plan for achieving African health sovereignty.
“Let us leave El Alamein with a plan to achieve the objectives of African health sovereignty,” he said.
Story by: Emmanuel Romeo Tetteh(#RomeoWrites✍️) Presidential Affairs Correspondent | Ghana 🇬🇭
