Dear subscriber,
For the first time, there is a clearer pathway toward regulatory approvals for medicines that work across multiple African markets. What this means for access to essential medicines and local pharma production remains to be seen.
Treezer Michelle Atieno - Editor
A company launching a drug, vaccine or any medical device today has to navigate dozens of different regulatory systems across Africa, since each country has its own regulations. A new World Health Organisation and the African Medicines Agency deal changes this by harmonising pharma regulatory systems to improve access to safe medicines.
Harmonisation allows for faster market access, lower compliance costs, larger markets, more attractive conditions for pharmaceutical manufacturing and greater confidence for investors. However, harmonising Africa's medicines market fully will likely take years, or up to a decade.
African countries have long preferred to do their own assessments, creating duplication that can add months or years before products reach patients. Regulation remains a national sovereignty issue with the biggest challenge being getting countries to trust each other.
Our take: Africa cannot build a competitive pharmaceutical industry while requiring companies to navigate dozens of separate regulatory pathways for the same product…Read more (2 min)
Vivian Korir, a workforce transformation and digital health expert, has spent more than 15 years working across Africa's health sector. Drawing on that experience, she argues that many digital health solutions fail not because of weak technology or inadequate funding, but because frontline health workers are rarely involved in designing these tools.
In this op-ed, Ms Korir contends that the digital health sector continues to prioritise technology deployment over adoption, often designing solutions for ideal conditions rather than the realities of frontline care. She outlines the key solutions to this oversight.
"Some of the most technically sophisticated digital health solutions I have encountered never survived contact with the field. Not because the technology was poor. Not because the teams behind them lacked commitment or resources. But because the people expected to use them every day were never genuinely part of building them."
Read the full opinion…Read more (2 min)
Eight healthcare technology startups raised a combined $1.7 million in May to improve healthcare services across Africa. More than a quarter of that funding came from the UNICEF Venture Fund, which awarded five equity-free grants of $0.1 million each to startups deploying AI and digital technologies to address women's and maternal health challenges.
UNICEF Venture Fund's five health-tech grantees were Umbaji, Feel by Luna, Dawa Health, Kairos and Dotoh in Benin, part of UNICEF's inaugural Femtech Ventures cohort, which backed 11 startups across Africa and Asia.
Mia Healthcare raised the largest funding in May round with a $0.9 million venture capital to expand access to affordable dental and orthodontic services. The two remaining companies Rivia Clinics raised $0.2 million while Dige Health secured $0.1 million.
Our take: There is a growing preference for low-cost, AI-enabled healthcare delivery models that expand access without requiring heavy physical infrastructure…Read more (2 min)
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The WHO and the Africa CDC unveil a $518 million joint Ebola response plan for Africa
Events
🗓️ Register to attend the Africa Health ExCon in Egypt (June 15)
🗓️ Join the International Conference on Non-communicable Diseases (June 23)
🗓️ Attend the International Conference on Public Health in Africa in Ethiopia (Nov 23)
Jobs
🧑⚕️Be the Specialist, Paediatric HIV and Child Survival at UNICEF (Kenya)
🧑⚕️Apply to be the Senior Communications Officer at Gates Foundation (Kenya)
🧑⚕️Join Amref as the Learning, Evidence and Impact Lead (Kenya)
Various
💉IAVI supports promising TB vaccine candidate in late-stage development
💉CEPI fast-tracks three ebola vaccine candidates
💉 Nigeria outlines measures to reduce current 90% import of medicines
Seen on LinkedIn
Akwo Trinity, a digital health expert, says, “While millions of women still face challenges accessing quality maternal health services, rapid advancements in mobile technology and artificial intelligence are creating new opportunities to improve healthcare outcomes for mothers and babies.”