Maputo — The Director-General of Mozambique's National Institute of Health, Eduardo Samo Gudo, calls on African countries to boost investment in science and heath technologies because "the continent cannot keep waiting for the global north, Western countries and other rich countries, to develop the tests and medicines."

The Director-General, who was speaking in Maputo at the fifth symposium marking the 30th anniversary of the Manhiça Health Research Center, said African countries must start identifying solutions through science, ensuring "capacity to address the current and future challenges of the continent."

"We must invest today in science, innovation, and ethnological development in health, or we will perpetuate a dependency on the West and remain waiting for them to develop so that we can have access. We had the Ebola epidemic in 2014, then another in 2018, and now we have another one. We are always late. And to move forward and generate the products that allow us to respond adequately to new challenges, in the case of emerging diseases, we need to have investments in advance", he said.

He explained that the investment must also be focused on the health industry for clinical research, "which is a great first step, to have capacity on the continent, capacity to generate new products to allow us to anticipate and respond adequately to challenges."

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"Our leadership, in multilateral organizations and institutions, must prioritize boosting investment in health. The continent must invest for its own future", he added.