Source: Revital Healthcare
From the newsletter
Meeting a likely demand surge, Africa aims to grow fourfold its drug manufacturing workforce by 2030 following the designation of three biomanufacturing training hubs by the World Health Organisation. The hubs will receive end-to-end training support, including technology transfer, bioprocessing, quality systems, regulatory compliance, clinical development and production scale-up.
According to the Africa CDC, the continent currently has fewer than 3,000 experts in drug manufacturing, with many of these in research roles rather than dedicated to production. The continent needs approximately 12,000 full-time experts to meet the goal of producing 60% of its medical products by 2040.
The hubs, based in Egypt, Senegal and South Africa, can only meet the skills projection if funding for technology and trainers is sustained and if the training is aligned with evolving biomanufacturing standards.
More details
The training hubs were selected through two global calls for expressions of interest and spans all six WHO regions, with centres in Egypt, Senegal and South Africa for Africa. Each hub will operate as a regional node within a coordinated global system linked to WHO’s Global Training Hub for Biomanufacturing in the Republic of Korea.
Beyond classroom learning, the hubs will prioritise practical, industry-embedded training, including structured placements in manufacturing facilities, joint curriculum development with pharmaceutical companies and academia and training-of-trainers models to rapidly scale expertise within national systems. They will also support regulatory strengthening through peer learning and shared technical frameworks across regions.
To ensure impact, WHO will support continuous curriculum updates and cross-regional knowledge exchange. The model is designed to build sustainable institutional capacity, strengthen local manufacturing ecosystems and reduce dependency on external training pipelines.
However, biomanufacturing training requires highly specialised expertise and constant technology updates, meaning the hubs will need sustained industry partnerships and modern equipment that is costly. Without long-term funding and strong links to active manufacturing projects, the centres risk becoming disconnected from market demands.
Our take
A lot of investment is needed to convert a small pool of less than 3,000 experts into a production-ready workforce fast enough to close a widening manufacturing gap before 2040.
Relying on external experts is costly and unsustainable, with high consultancy, relocation and short-term deployment fees, making localised training a more efficient long-term investment.