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Africa has spent years building vaccine manufacturing capacity after Covid-19. A new Ebola outbreak may provide the clearest indication yet of whether those investments are beginning to pay off.
Treezer Michelle Atieno - Editor
The Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak is becoming the first real-world test of whether Africa's post-Covid investment in vaccine manufacturing can translate into locally developed vaccines. For the first time, Africa has a global markets certified mRNA manufacturer, Afrigen, who is actively competing to develop an Ebola vaccine during an active outbreak.
The Cape Town-based facility is participating in proposals under the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, competing against global pharma giants like Moderna, following its good manufacturing practice certification in April.
While Africa has invested in vaccine manufacturing since Covid-19, few facilities have reached the regulatory standards needed to participate in global vaccine development and procurement programmes.
Our take: Afrigen’s success or failure may offer an early indication of how quickly Africa's vaccine manufacturing ambitions can evolve from capacity building to competitive product development…Read more (2 min)
The Africa CDC's ambition to digitalise 90% of Africa's primary healthcare systems by 2035 could create one of the continent's largest health technology infrastructure opportunities. In an op-ed, Mike Adeyemi Lawal examines why digital health is moving beyond innovation projects and becoming a core component of health service delivery.
“Digital health becoming part of primary healthcare infrastructure is not the most dramatic story in African health innovation. But it may be one of the most important,” says Lawal, a digital health expert and a malaria and infectious diseases specialist advisor.
He argues that the future of African digital health will depend less on creating new applications and more on integrating existing technologies into primary healthcare systems.
Read the full op-ed…Read more (2 min)
We have compiled 40 open mid and senior level roles in nutrition, vaccination, health technology, pharmaceutical manufacturing, climate-health and infectious disease control across the continent. East Africa leads with 14 roles, followed by North Africa with 11 roles, West Africa with 10 roles and Southern Africa with 5 roles.
Project management is the most dominant role with 7 open positions across Africa, with open positions at Vital Strategies, FHI 360, Amref, Jhpiego, Corus International, Palladium.
The most active recruiters include Novartis, Pfizer, FHI 360, International Medical Corps and Vital Strategies with 2 openings each.
Full list…Read more (2 min)
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Egypt is to host Africa’s medicines pooled procurement operational headquarters under a new Africa CDC agreement
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)
Various
💉Novo Nordisk Foundation contributes $18 million for health research in Africa
💉Ghana selected for $11 million global dengue vaccine project
💉 The US commits $200 million for Ebola containment in DRC and Uganda
Seen on LinkedIn
Nancy Muya, a healthcare research expert, says, “Can AI fix African healthcare? The evidence suggests the answer is no. A better question is: Which healthcare problem, in which location, under what conditions, can AI help solve? That distinction may sound subtle, but it changes everything.”