Africa is building a new vaccine future through strategic investments, skilled workforce development, and local manufacturing. From Kenya to Rwanda, deals for new facilities and skills development promise to reduce reliance on foreign pharma supply chains.
Bonface Orucho, Bird Story Agency
At a warehouse in Kilifi, Kenya, in June 2024, Roseline Oliwa watched as 10 UNICEF trucks, each loaded with 1.6 million auto-disable syringes, pulled out, bound for Zambia.
“I feel so proud of it,” Oliwa remarked in a 2024 interview with the Gates Foundation.
That pride emanates from the success of local efforts. The syringes had been manufactured at Revital Healthcare, a Kenyan company that produces World Health Organisation (WHO) prequalified early-activation auto-disable syringes, single-use devices essential for vaccinations.
Until recently, more than 80 per cent of such syringes were sourced from Asia, but Revital’s growing production capacity is helping Africa secure faster, more reliable access to lifesaving health commodities.
In 2023 alone, the company manufactured over 300 million units, supplying more than 30 African countries and reducing reliance on fragile global supply chains.
Revital is just one sign of a broader continental shift: countries are moving to build local pharmaceutical capacity and reduce reliance on fragile global supply chains.
According to vaccine innovation leader at Bloom Public Health, Olutoun Sanusi-Oladunni, Africa’s vaccine resilience depends on moving beyond global dependency by investing in agile, regional supply systems tailored to local realities.
“Indigenous networks and cold chain solutions are key to securing long-term health access,” Ms Sanusi-Oladunni said.
From new factories to regulatory harmonisation and strategic investments, the continent is gradually transitioning from a passive consumer of imported medicines to an active builder of its own pharmaceutical capacity.
The urgency for the current transformation was exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Africa’s overreliance on external suppliers led to critical shortages and pricing shocks.
More recently, surges in mpox infections across countries like Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Uganda have again exposed the continent’s vulnerability to health emergencies without sufficient domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing.
According to Nigeria Health Watch, Sierra Leone’s 2024 mpox outbreak tested the limits of the country’s epidemic preparedness systems, sparking urgent calls for improved local access to vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments.
Similar outbreaks in DRC and Uganda, where over 80 per cent of Africa’s mpox cases were recorded, highlight persistent gaps in regional health response and pharmaceutical self-sufficiency.
Today, across multiple fronts, African countries are pursuing a new path, one defined by domestic manufacturing, cross-border cooperation, and long-term health security.
According to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s Global Trade Update published in July 2025, global pharmaceutical trade grew by 15 per cent in the first quarter of the year compared to the previous quarter, and by 17 percent year-on-year.
While Africa’s general exports also rose 5 per cent quarterly and 14 per cent annually, the continent’s push to strengthen pharmaceutical production is now a key strategic focus, with a growing number of countries laying foundations for supply chain resilience.
At the policy level, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s 2025 study tour on health product manufacturing, conducted with partners including Team Europe and the African Medicines Agency, emphasised the importance of regulatory alignment and local talent pipelines.
According to Ms Sanusi-Oladunni, these investments show how local manufacturing is now seen not as a national pursuit, but as a pan-African imperative.
Building the required supply backbone requires a skilled, well-trained workforce. Through the African Vaccine Academy, launched by Bloom Public Health in partnership with the Biotech Training Facility in the Netherlands, over 40 professionals from across Africa have been trained in real-world vaccine production, regulatory compliance, and quality assurance.
Still, the road ahead is long. Although nearly 70 per cent of the medicines consumed in Africa are still imported, targeted efforts are beginning to bear fruit.
One major force influencing the pharmaceutical landscape is China. As many western pharmaceutical firms remain cautious about investing in African markets, Chinese companies are leveraging scalable production models and long-term partnerships to expand their role across the continent.
Kenya and China recently in June 2025 signed a US$500 million deal to set up local vaccine and pharmaceutical production facilities leveraging Chinese technology.
Chinese pharma company, Fosun Pharma, through its subsidiary Guilin Pharma, is constructing West Africa’s largest pharmaceutical facility near Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, backed by US$108 million in financing from the International Finance Corporation.
Initiated in late 2022, the project is being implemented in three phases. The facility will manufacture antimalarial and antibacterial medicines for 17 francophone African countries, with a planned capacity of five billion tablets annually.
The company has already begun training local staff and setting up a regulatory training base, with the project expected to create around 1,000 jobs and serve as a regional example for integrated pharmaceutical production.
In Nigeria, Jiangsu Aidea Pharma and Nanjing PharmaBlock are collaborating with local firm Fidson Healthcare to establish a 100 million dollar antiretroviral drug plant. In Zanzibar, Africa Bio Chem has secured an agreement for vaccine and drug production, while Zambia will host a new cholera vaccine facility being developed by Jijia International Medical Technology.
In Ethiopia, Sansheng Pharmaceutical’s Addis Ababa plant is now supplying much of the country’s domestic demand for essential medicines, significantly reducing import reliance.
Mali has also maintained a steady role in regional manufacturing. Chinese firm Humanwell Pharmaceuticals has operated a production facility in the country for nearly a decade, showing the longer-term strategic view some players are taking in Africa’s pharmaceutical future.
According to a 2025 report by Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, many of these companies operate on slimmer profit margins than their Western peers, prioritising affordability, volume, and strategic market presence.
However, beyond the investment flows, Africa is beginning to build its own pharmaceutical base, even as some of the structures are supported by external actors.
South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare remains one of the continent’s most advanced pharmaceutical manufacturers. The company has expanded its sterile production lines, entered global fill-and-finish partnerships for vaccines, and broadened its generics portfolio across regional markets.
Its 2023 partnership with Novo Nordisk to produce insulin in Africa is widely seen as a milestone for health sovereignty and access to chronic disease treatments.
Rwanda, too, is emerging as a leader. A modular messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine production facility developed by Biopharmaceutical New Technologies (BioNTech) is being established in Kigali. Once operational, the plant will manufacture vaccines using locally trained personnel. Though still in early stages, the initiative is being viewed as a model for decentralised biomanufacturing in Africa.
Bio Usawa, a private biotech firm focused on drug access in Africa, signed an agreement in May 2025 with Pacific Environmental Technologies to deploy self-contained modular bio-manufacturing units in Kigali. The first module is expected to be operational by the end of 2025.
According to Ms Sanusi-Oladunni, this kind of investment is exactly what the continent needs.
“Regional vaccine manufacturing directly reduces dependence on distant and often unpredictable suppliers. Decentralised infrastructure tailored to Africa’s diverse settings is key to long-term health security.
“The future of Africa’s health lies in the hands of the professionals we train today,” She added.
Despite these advances, deep-rooted structural barriers persist. According to UNCTAD, only five active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) plants exist across the entire continent.
Most African countries lack sufficient industrial infrastructure to produce basic pharmaceutical inputs, packaging materials, or formulation equipment, leaving them vulnerable to external shocks, especially from Asia.
This is where institutional reforms come into play.
The African Medicines Agency, launched in 2021, is now gaining operational capacity. Its goal is to harmonise pharmaceutical regulations across the continent, reduce approval timelines, and create a unified African pharmaceutical market.
In parallel, UNCTAD has been working with African countries to adapt special economic zones (SEZs) for pharmaceutical production.
According to its 2024 report on SEZs and pharmaceuticals, clear policy coordination, targeted fiscal incentives, and upgraded infrastructure are key to turning Africa’s growing pharmaceutical demand into viable local production ecosystems.
Bird Story Agency
