From the newsletter
A new continental outbreak intelligence platform will help African pharmaceutical manufacturers anticipate demand and manufacture medical products faster during the next pandemic. The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa has launched an integrated health data platform to forecast outbreaks and strengthen pandemic preparedness.
The Preparedness Data Exchange brings together surveillance, climate, laboratory and workforce data to help detect threats earlier and coordinate faster responses.
There is growing emphasis on building continental health data infrastructure, a move that strengthens pharma demand predictability. In January, the Africa CDC launched the Central Data Repository to consolidate public health data across the continent.
More details
The Preparedness Data Exchange (PDX) is an AI-enabled intelligence platform designed to integrate multiple data streams for pandemic preparedness. It combines disease surveillance, laboratory trends, climate alerts, workforce and health system readiness indicators, emergency operations information and media monitoring into a single operational environment, producing a unified, real-time risk picture across the African region.
PDX synthesises disparate datasets to generate actionable insights, shortening the time between threat detection and response. Embedded AI allows officials to query live data in plain language, providing source-cited, auditable answers. The platform supports national health systems by enabling risk monitoring, scenario testing, pre-positioning supplies, deploying rapid response teams, and reinforcing laboratory and workforce capacity before emergencies escalate.
There is growing emphasis on building continental health data infrastructure, a move that strengthens pharma demand predictability. In January, the Africa CDC launched the Central Data Repository (CDR) to consolidate public health data across the continent. The CDR repository integrates all health data in a secure and interoperable platform. It provides real-time insights into disease trends and outbreaks. The information can be used by pharma manufacturers to align production volumes with current demand.
Between 2022 and 2024, Africa reported 213 public health emergencies, a 40% increase from previous years. Incidents included infectious disease outbreaks and climate-related events such as floods and droughts. The CDR and PDX enable central tracking of these events and allows suppliers and manufacturers to understand changing public health needs.
Fragmented public health data during COVID-19 hindered preparedness and Africa’s pharmaceutical response, creating invisible supply chains and disrupted vaccine and drug procurement. Over 60% of facilities relied on paper records, while siloed digital systems prevented real-time visibility into stock levels and infection trends, delaying critical production and distribution decisions.
Our take
A central data system is an enabling intervention for local pharma manufacturing but a lot of investment is still needed.
Manufacturers also require predictable procurement, faster regulatory pathways, access to financing and regional market integration.