Manufacturing and Access to Vaccines, Medicines and health technology products in Africa

The Team Europe initiative (TEI) on Manufacturing and Access to Vaccines, Medicines and Health Technologies (MAV+) aims at boosting local manufacturing capacities in Africa and strengthening pharmaceutical systems . To do so, various barriers must be lifted in order to allow equitable access to health products and technologies. MAV+ places the continent's own actors and institutions at its heart.

Objectives
The overall objective of MAV+ is to increase equitable access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential vaccines, medicines and health technologies for all Africans. This objective pursues SDG 3.8 and promotes ultimately universal health coverage (UHC). Supporting access to essential health products and technologies represents an opportunity to target several development objectives and geo-political priorities shared by both the EU and the African Union (AU), stimulate growth and decent jobs, facilitate trade, diversify global value chains, engage with the private sector, and reinforce our health, scientific and diplomatic ties with partner countries while advancing universal health coverage (UHC) and human development.

Approach
The initiative has already delivered short term milestones, while its policy framework follows a comprehensive, 360-degree approach, and addresses the impact in the long run. It operates at continental and national levels–,has activated policy support and technical contributions from several EC services, and encompasses three key dimensions –a) supply side, b) demand side and the c) enabling environment to underpin pharmaceutical systems– and 6 interlinked work streams : 1) industrial development, supply chains and private sector, 2) market shaping, demand and trade facilitation, 3) regulatory strengthening, 4) technology transfer and intellectual property management, 5) access to finance, 6) R&D, higher education and skills.

a) The supply side (1)
• Industrial development.
• Supply chain management and integrity (e.g. with digital tools).
• Private sector engagement.
• Quality assurance system throughout the supply process to address the constraints that negatively impact the availability, affordability and acceptability of essential medicines and vaccines and other health products, and a modern mix of quality-assured SRH-commodities.

b) The demand side (2)
• Market shaping, demand defragmentation and consolidation, business plans, and addressing market failures for medicines and health products.
• Health promotion and risk communication for the final users or communities.
• Building trust and confidence of local communities in locally manufactured health products.
• Trade facilitation (reduce tariff and non-tariff trade barriers for the movement of raw materials and finished products across the continent).

c) The enabling environment and pharmaceutical / health systems
• Regulatory strengthening. Improving regulation and governance of health products, including coherent national policies that provide the right incentives and ensuring that essential medicine lists include key commodities, including SRH commodities. (3)
• Technology transfer and intellectual property management (4).
• Access to finance, establishing financing vehicles and instruments de-risking private investments, domestic resources. (5)

R&D, higher education and skills. Promotion of human capital development. (6)

Current state of play
Backed by EUR 1 billion from the EU budget, the state of play of MAV+ as of July 2022 is as follows:
Financially, Team Europe has mobilised over EUR 906.55 million. This encompasses at least EUR 643,80 million in loans and other financial instruments from European Development Financial Institutions (EDFIs), EUR 105.7 million in grants and blended finance from the EC, and EUR 157,05 million in grants from Germany, France and Belgium combined.

Regarding concrete results, actions have been taken at continental and country levels.
At continental level, EU funding is mobilised for regulatory strengthening and the African Medicines Agency (AMA), the WHO technology transfer hub, and the secretariat and programmes of the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM), hosted by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDC).

At national level, the focus is on increasing production capacity and manufacturing plants and on creating the right ecosystem for investment. The first support packages for Senegal, Rwanda, South Africa and Ghana have been mobilised. More will follow to help realising the African Union’s objective to produce 60% of all its vaccines by 2040.

These efforts are being complemented by private initiatives. Production facilities of BioNtech (EU) are being established in Senegal, Rwanda and Ghana, and Moderna (US) has recently announced a major investment in Kenya. The European Commission organised as well a matchmaking event for private sectors partners from the EEA and Africa to work further together.

Partners
European partners
- EMA and network of European regulators.
- EDCTP

African organisations
- AUC
- African CDC
- AUDA NEPAD
- AMA
- African governments and national regulatory agencies.

International partners
- WHO
- Gates Foundation