The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to ensure access to pharmaceuticals for all. As the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on the poor and most vulnerable populations, the lack of access to essential medicines further exacerbates the impact of the pandemic on development gains, hampering progress in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
UNIDO provides technical cooperation and advisory services to advance local pharmaceutical production in developing countries. Building back from the COVID-19 crisis, local pharmaceutical production capacity for essential medicines and vaccines will be a critical priority to reduce dependency on international donations and to ensure resilience and preparedness for future crises.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the strategic imperative of building resilient manufacturing capacity for essential medicines and vaccines in developing countries and regions. There is the potential to improve availability of essential medicines and accelerate access to novel products whilst protecting the innovation ecosystems that have so rapidly developed COVID19 vaccines. Developing the assets that can achieve these ends requires an ecosystem that ensures sustainable high-quality production. Requisite components of such systems include a conducive environment that supports investment, access to markets, robust regulatory oversight, and access to technology. Africa bears a disproportionate burden of disease and is dependent on imports for many essential medicines and most vaccines. The disruption to global supply chains caused by the COVID 19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of the continent and underlines the need to strengthen local production of these products. There are ongoing initiatives in this field, but accelerated progress requires a redoubling of efforts. Coordinated application of ´push´ and ´pull´ interventions could help build conducive environments and establish the market returns that will stimulate investment. The international community can play a catalytic role by targeting Official Development Assistance and Other Official Flows through a combination of capacity building, budget support, and market commitments/signalling. This adjustment will accelerate progress towards sustainable industry sectors in medicines and vaccines and lead to improved and more resilient access in Africa and other developing regions of the world.