The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for $3.56 million in grant funding to support the development of pharmaceutical industries in West Africa.
Managing Director of the Bank for Nigeria, Lamin Barrow, and Mamadou Traoré, ECOWAS Commissioner in charge of Industry and the Private Sector signed the agreement for the Pharmaceutical Industry Development Support Project in West Africa.
The AfDB said the project’s total cost is $3.77 million, to which the ECOWAS Commission will provide $200,000 in cash and $400,000 in-kind.
According to the Bank, the funds will support the implementation of regulations to allow duty-free access to pharmaceutical raw materials, packaging, and finished products under the ECOWAS Common External Tariff.
It will also help establish an effective regional pharmaceutical regulatory ecosystem by providing technical assistance programmes for regional regulatory authorities.
Commissioner Traoré said: “Local production of pharmaceuticals and biologicals has become an imperative and a regional priority, as is the provision of healthcare delivery services. The African Development Bank’s support of these priorities will help ECOWAS achieve its development objectives.”
During the signing ceremony held in Abuja, the African Development Bank’s Director-General for Nigeria, Lamin Barrow said: “The COVID-19 crisis has further exposed the fragility of our national healthcare systems and posed significant disruptions to the global health and pharmaceutical supply chains. This underscores the urgency of accelerating efforts to ensure a minimum level of supply of health products.”
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
- Bandits Storm Kaduna Airport, Stop Aircraft From Taking Off
- Lagos Socialite Who Distributed Petrol As Souvenir Sentenced To Two Years Imprisonment, Gets Fine Option
The project will enhance the pharmaceutical industry’s competitiveness through improved quality and product standards and help ensure that the region complies with best practices in manufacturing pharmaceutical products and supplies.
It will strengthen regional training institutions and laboratories to ensure that the required skills are available to support the industry’s regional growth in a gender-sensitive and environmentally friendly manner.
The AfDB informed that in response to calls from the African Union and the pharmaceutical industry, the African Development Bank has taken a leadership role in developing and driving a continental Vision and Action Plan for a new African Pharmaceutical order.
Bank Group President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, announced last year that the institution would mobilise up to $3 billion to support this development.
The project will also advance the Bank’s efforts to support the harmonisation of the regulatory environment for pharmaceuticals across Africa at the regional and continental levels.
“This, in tandem with the operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, will deepen intra-African integration and trade, boosting regional markets,” the AfDB said.
The Bank’s Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation, Solomon Quaynor, said: “To develop the pharmaceutical industry, the African Development Bank will help to develop local production capacities to increase the market share of African (local and regional) pharmaceutical production value to 45-55% by 2030.”
“The project aligns with three of the African Development Bank’s High Five strategic priorities: Industrialise Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. It also advances the Bank’s Regional Integration Strategy for West Africa and is in line with the Bank’s gender strategy, and its strategic response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The ECOWAS Commission will be the executing agency for this project, which will run for two years, starting from 2022. The West African Health Organisation will be the implementing agency,” the AfDB explained.
How Workplace Sexual Harassment Forces Many Out Of Their Dream Jobs
AfDB signs $3.56m grant MoU with ECOWAS to develop pharmaceutical industry
Marburg Virus: What You Need To Know About Disease Recently Detected In West Africa
AfDB signs $3.56m grant MoU with ECOWAS to develop pharmaceutical industry
and then