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Africa could strengthen its climate health resilience by scaling up local production of active pharmaceutical ingredients, according to a new paper in the Nature journal. The study argues that manufacturing in smaller factories instead of big costly ones, offers a practical solution to ensuring access to essential medicines during crises.
The continent currently faces a stark imbalance. Africa carries 26% of the world’s disease burden but produces only 3% of its medicines, importing more than 95% of pharmaceutical ingredients.
Local pharmaceutical manufacturing strengthens climate health by securing medicine supplies during climate-driven disruptions, cutting import emissions, and building resilient health systems to address rising heat, disease, and food insecurity risks.
Our take: Africa does not need to replicate expensive Western-style mega plants to build its pharmaceutical future. Instead, modular and flexible facilities offer a faster, cheaper route to scale up production of active ingredients, vaccines and finished medicines…Read more (2 min)
This month’s climate health job listings show momentum in strengthening system resilience and equity. Demand reflects adaptation to climate pressures with over 40 roles in care and advocacy. Kenya leads with openings across maternal nutrition, reproductive health, urban resilience and wider institutional support.
New roles, including HIV Care and Treatment Assistant in Botswana, Medicines Access Consultant in Nigeria and Healthcare Assistants in Rwanda, point to rising investment in community outreach and diagnostics. These reflect climate-sensitive priorities like strengthening frontline services in vulnerable regions.
Additional listings in Uganda, Namibia, Malawi and Côte d’Ivoire confirm a wider demand for patient support and regulatory expertise across decentralised systems. Humanitarian contexts in Sudan and Uganda highlight how workforce capacity must expand to withstand emerging disease risks.
Click to see the full list…Read more (2 min)
South African based pharmaceutical subsidiary Johnson & Johnson has grown the fastest in terms of African staff among peers in the past year. The company, which was established in 1930 as American Johnson & Johnson’s third subsidiary outside the United States, has grown staff by 40%, or 678 new hires according to LinkedIn data.
The growth can be attributed to Johnson & Johnson uniting Janssen and MedTech under one brand in South Africa, a 2023 global rebranding implemented locally in December 2024 to strengthen healthcare innovation.
The average staff growth across Africa’s pharma top ten leaders is about 14%. Bayer follows Johnson & Johnson with 21%, then Roche at 19%, Pfizer 18%, GSK 14%, Novo Nordisk 10%, Novartis 9%, Aspen 5%, AstraZeneca 4% and Sanofi 3%.
Our take: Africa is becoming a growth frontier for global pharma, with companies scaling both operations and talent to meet rising health demands…Read more (2 min)
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Solar energy to boost vaccine cold chain in rural Zambia.
Events
🗓️ Register for the Digital Health Africa conference in Ghana (September 3)
🗓️ Register for the 26th Medexpo in Tanzania (September 10)
🗓️ Participate in the World Health Expo in Kenya (October 6)
🗓️ Attend the Healthcare Innovation Summit in South Africa (October 22)
Various
💉 Africa rallies new financing models for health
💉 Kenya to host physicians' conference on health future
💉 Africa’s tentative start in mass vaccine production
Seen on LinkedIn
Ibrahim Amidu, a Pharmacovigilance Resident at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control in Nigeria, says, “The future of patient safety in Africa won’t be built in hospitals alone; it will be coded in digital health platforms.”__________________