Kigali, Rwanda — 10/03/2023 - The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) hosted its lead partners at a meeting on the sidelines of the Africa Health Agenda International Conference 2023 in Kigali, Rwanda, from 05 March to 08 March 2023. The meeting took place on 09 and 10 March 2023. It brought together the PAVM's secretariat with representatives from partner organizations, including, amongst others, the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), AfriExport-Importport Bank (Afreximbank), the Africa Vaccine Manufacturers Initiative (AVMI) and members of the Academia. The meeting was dedicated to identifying objectives and deliverables for the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing in 2023.
The Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) was established by the African Union (AU), under the Africa CDC, in 2021 to deliver a bold goal: enable the African vaccine manufacturing industry to develop, produce, and supply over 60 percent of the total vaccine doses required on the continent by 2040, up from less than 1 percent. Achieving the PAVM vision--which will mean developing the manufacturing capacity to produce at least 1.5 billion vaccine doses annually by 2040--will be a massive undertaking. The need is clear: while the supply of routine vaccines has been stable, the supply of outbreak vaccines remains uneven and unreliable, as evidenced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Safeguarding Africa's health can only be achieved through our ability to manufacture the health products we need on the continent. The new public health order outlines it well in its Pillar 3: Expanded Manufacturing of Vaccines, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics to democratize access to life-saving medicines and equipment," said Dr Ahmed Ogwell, Acting Director of Africa CDC. "The ability for PAVM to achieve its bold goal will require all the partners in the room to invest in all aspects of local manufacturing required for an increased supply of locally manufactured health products. This will include access to financing, market shaping and design, technology transfers, talent development, etc."
PAVM is cementing an ecosystem of action-oriented partners to achieve the African Union's vision of 60% locally produced vaccines by 2040. The lead partners reviewed PAVM's eight bold programs outlined in the PAVM Framework for Action, prioritized a set of practical actions and defined a collaboration framework that enables implementation effectiveness and quick results in support of African vaccine manufacturing. To increase the bankability of projects, co-lead partners of the Access to Finance bold program, AfDB and Afreximbank, agreed to collaborate with PAVM to explore the readiness of existing project preparation facilities on the continent to finance early project preparation activities.
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The meeting concluded with a renewed commitment from partners to strengthen the collaboration and coordination of efforts for an improved vaccine ecosystem in Africa.
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About Africa CDC
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is a continental autonomous Public Health agency of the African Union which supports Member States in their efforts to strengthen health systems and improve surveillance, emergency response, prevention and control of diseases.Abi
For more information, visit https://africacdc.org/
About AUDA - NEPAD
At the 31st Ordinary Session of the Assembly of African Union Heads of State and Government in Nouakchott, Mauritania, June 2018, a decision was taken to transform the NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency into the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD). The establishment of AUDA-NEPAD is part of the global reforms geared at improving the Union's impact and operational efficiency.
