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AfDB official: Newly-established APTF to propel Africa to achieve SDGs
The newly established African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation (APTF) will be instrumental in propelling Africa towards the attainment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals( SDGs), African Development Bank (AfDB) Senior Advisor on pharmaceuticals and health, Professor Padmashree Gehl Sampath, said.
She made the remarks during a presentation on the APTF ahead of a panel discussion on the first day of the 2023 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank in Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
She emphasized the APTF’s objective of fostering regional pharmaceutical production and innovation capabilities, explaining that it aimed not only to augment industrial development and shape robust health policies but also to strengthen regional health security.
She said as an independent institution, the APTF would enhance Africa’s access to the technologies for manufacturing medicines, vaccines, and other pharmaceutical products.
African Development Bank President Adesina initiated the Foundation in response to vaccine shortage in Africa at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, realising that the continent needed to boost its level of preparedness. Gehl Sampath said the APTF aspired to provide “a fair contribution to the global response against pandemics and epidemics,” thus reflecting a cooperative and inclusive approach.
In their contributions, panel members expressed strong support for the Foundation. Panellists included Egypt’s minister for International Cooperation Rania Mashat, Germany’s governor to the African Development Bank and parliamentary state secretary, Dr Bärbel Kofler, senior advisor on pharmaceuticals and health, Professor Padmashree Gehl Sampath, African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases director, Professor Christian Happi, and acting managing director of European Investment Bank Global, Dr Markus Berndt.
Minister Mashat noted that health security was “as important as food security.” “The more we invest, the closer we are going to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Dr Kofler said it was important to learn from past mistakes and prepare for the inevitable. “The next pandemic will come—the question is not if but when,” she said.
In his welcome remarks, President Adesina underscored the stark realities revealed by the Covid-19 pandemic. “At the start of the pandemic, Africa had no capacity to test against the virus and no capacity to produce basic things such as personnel protective equipment. There was zero capacity to manufacture vaccines.”
Adesina highlighted the inequality in vaccine access, noting, “While the rest of the developed world was having access to second and third doses of the Covid-19 vaccines, over one billion plus people in Africa had no access to a basic first dose.”
Adesina said the APTF represented a collective commitment towards self-sufficiency in the pharmaceutical sector. “The Foundation is a pledge—a pledge that our continent will have access to the technologies it needs to produce its own medicines, vaccines, and other pharmaceutical products,” the Bank Chief said.
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