Africa’s sub-Saharan area is host to more than 1.5 billion individuals. The fastest population growth occurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, and millions of residents are living in poverty. For many governments, investing in modern healthcare facilities is of highest priority. There are active new hospitals worth $11 billion. Currently, $6.4 billion has already been built, while $4.8 billion is being designed.

With 20%, or $2.3 billion, of Sub-Saharan Africa’s ongoing hospital projects, Kenya is in position to lead. The second spot goes to Nigeria with 19% ($2.1 billion). With 15% of the activity, Ghana is in third place with a $1.7 billion worth.

The Saudi Fund for Development, which has more than a dozen ongoing hospital projects with an entire displayed cost of $770 million, is the largest investor in the Sub-Saharan African healthcare industry. The fund’s funding of the construction of six new hospitals in the Ivory Coast, at an estimated cost of $383 million, is the largest investment. The fund also has holdings in Zambia, Kenya, Mauritius, Uganda, and Eswatini.

In Hawassa, Ethiopia, a private limited business called Shalom Health Care just started work on a $250 million medical equipment manufacturing facility. The facility, which would generate 5,000 a job if completed in two years, will lessen the nation’s reliance on foreign medical supplies.

The company will produce a variety of medical supplies, including syringes, needles, IV bags, masks and gloves, according to the company’s CEO Dr. Winta Mehari. Shalom intends to export its goods to East Africa and other world markets.

Desta Ledamo, the president of Sidama Regional State, thinks that the building will have a major impact on Ethiopia’s economy. He said that it would improve the nation’s healthcare system, provide foreign currency, and create jobs.

The African Centre for Disease Control headquarters are located in a southern nearby of Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, and was founded and funded by China as part of their medical diplomacy with Africa.

The building houses administration offices, an emergency operations centre, a biological laboratory, a resource centre, conference rooms, and offices, all of which were erected, furnished, and equipped as a gift for the continent by the Chinese government.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and preventive (CDC) headquarters, inaugurated in January by Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, is meant to boost Africa’s epidemic response, as well as disease preventive and surveillance capabilities.

The gift is part of the Chinese plan to strengthen its medical diplomacy with African countries as it tries to position itself as a significant player in the global health business.

Beijing continues to send hundreds of medical experts to African countries each year, as well as financial resources, to combat infectious diseases. In addition to supplying the Africa CDC, China has created other healthcare infrastructure all through the continent.

According to observers, China intends to challenge the US’s supremacy in global healthcare, notably in Africa, where the US has financed multibillion-dollar malaria and HIV/AIDS projects.

Lina Benabdallah, a China-Africa a scholar at Wake Forest University and a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Centre for African Studies, believes China’s medical diplomacy has enriched people-to-people a connection in a beneficial way.

China expanded to include medical supply and equipment donations, clinic and hospital development, and training programmes, he said.

According to Shinn, China’s priority in the early half of the twenty-first century was on providing basic health staff, before growing to include the building of hospitals and, most recently, countering infectious illnesses.

“In recent years, China has prioritised the treatment and eradication of infectious diseases like malaria, Ebola, and Covid-19.””

Hinn said China had focused explicitly on malaria, building antimalarial treatment centres, providing artemisinin combination medicines, and attending training workshops.

Based on a study conducted by academics at AidData, a research lab at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, China delivered 1,026 health projects worth $1.6 billion across 51 African countries.

The scale and depth of China-Africa cooperation has risen in light of the success of the malaria elimination effort. Funding for the epidemic is growing, with Chinese funding help for 30 health facilities aimed at improving Africa’s response.

“China’s active participation and significant funding for Ebola-related prevention and care indicate the country’s growing role as a global health leader.”

During the Covid-19 outbreak, China continued to support Africa, with President Xi Jinping promising a billion doses of vaccine for the region.

According to Shinn of George Washington University, reducing infectious disease in Africa is in China’s best interests “because this is one of the primary concerns of the growing number of Chinese – at least prior to Covid-19 – living and working on the continent.”

RIYADH: In Kenya and Cameroon, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) of Saudi Arabia launched two volunteer medical programmes.

13 volunteer doctors from the medical staff of the charity organisation operated on patients in Nairobi who needed cardiac catheterizations. According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the programme, which ran from May 22 to May 26, was implemented in conjunction with the Al-Balsam International Organisation.

The project is an expansion of the voluntary medical programmes the KSrelief currently has in place in across a variety of topics to assist people and families in need in developing countries, according to a statement from the SPA.

In the city of Maroua in Cameroon, 22 volunteer surgeons from a variety of specialties, including orthopaedics, paediatrics, gynaecology, and obstetrics, carried out medical procedures.
Additionally, KSrelief kept running its medical programmes in other parts of the globe

Al-Jadah Health Centre clinics in Yemen’s Hajjah governorate treated 7,618 patients in April with the assistance of KSrelief. Through its several clinics for maternity, radiography, surgery, paediatrics, internal medicine, and reproductive health, the centre provided healthcare.

The Subul Al-Salam Social Association’s ambulance service in Al-Minya, Lebanon, received funding from KSrelief and completed 90 missions in one week. The tasks included anything from taking patients to and from hospitals to giving first assistance.

The global food aid programmes were still being carried out by the Saudi aid organisation. 750 earthquake-affected families in Idlib, Syria, got food shipments and hygiene kits.

The group also sent 25 tonnes of dates to Burundi as a gift from the Kingdom.

By bringing together forces and cooperating with a focus on Africa, XRP Healthcare Africa and The Burnratty Investment Group have established a new partnership to revolutionise the African healthcare industry. The partnership will seek to consolidate the highly fragmented African healthcare sector by pursuing mergers and acquisitions of small and medium-sized private healthcare firms that are consistent with its strategic vision in Uganda, East Africa, which is its initial point of concentration.

The partnership has the potential to grow exponentially, creating a successful and long-lasting healthcare ecosystem that offers top-notch medical treatment to millions of Africans. The official alliance between The Burnratty Investment Group and XRP Healthcare Africa has already received the support of existing partners FasterCapital, managed by renowned investor Hesham Zreik, to raise money for the M&A activity to be undertaken.

The strong collaboration wants to be valued at $1 billion and establish itself as the largest provider of healthcare, researcher, influencer, and health technology on the African continent.

Kenya’s plan to produce human vaccines and diagnostics domestically is still coming together.

After meeting Director General Jerome Kim of the International Vaccines Institute (IVI) at Afya House, Health CS Susan Wafula made the announcement.

CEO of the Kenya Biovax Institute Michael Lusiola and Acting Director General for Health Patrick Amoth were also present at the meeting.

In order to produce Covid-19 vaccines and other vaccines, the government has invested between Sh1.5 and Sh2 billion in the Biovax project, according to Wafula.

The main item on the agenda was talking about how the IVI and Kenya’s Biovax Institute will collaborate to make sure Biovax’s mission is accomplished.

Research, partnerships in product development, and capacity building of the local workforce through technical assistance, training, and technology transfers were some of the areas that were investigated.

Kenya officially presented her letter of intent to join the International Vaccine Institute as a state party in Seul, South Korea in November 2022 months prior to the meeting.

President William Ruto and CS Wafula were present to see the letter being delivered by Foreign Affairs CS Alfred Mutua.

The Kenya Biovax Institute, a government-funded organisation tasked with producing specialised medical goods like vaccines and therapeutics, is about to begin production in earnest.

The first manufacturing facility in Africa to produce messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, such as Covid-19 shots, will be established in Kenya by the company Moderna.

The recent shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, which slowed ongoing mass vaccination drives, particularly across many African countries, prompted the decision to expedite the development of a human vaccine facility in the nation.

It is anticipated that the plant will be finished in 2024.

Once finished, the Kenyan manufacturing facility will be the first in Africa to manufacture messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, such as Covid-19 shots.

The company plans to invest up to Sh60 billion in the new facility, which will concentrate on producing drug substances for the continent of Africa. The facility may be expanded to include fill-finish and packaging capabilities.

During the past seven years, Villgro Africa has invested approximately $1.36 million (Sh171.4 million) in 36 Kenyan healthcare firms. As part of its regional growth, the company wants to open a Biotech Innovation Hub.The impact investor and incubator intend to make these initiatives public.

Since its inception, Villgro Africa has made it possible for those at the bottom of the pyramid to get healthcare. According to Wilfred Njagi, co-founder and CEO of Villgro Africa, the company has gradually invested seed money in social entrepreneurs that have domestic solutions to Africa’s healthcare and lifestyle problems over the past seven years.

These businesses have so far brought in about $5.2 million (Sh655.2 million) in revenue, produced 540 jobs, and affected more over two million lives.

According to the Impact Report, Villgro Africa committed $2.14 million (Sh269.6 million) in total investments over the past seven years, of which $1.36 million (Sh171 million) went to Kenyan entrepreneurs.

In order to accelerate the development of medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics for the control and eradication of diseases related to poverty, rare diseases, neglected tropical diseases, and NCDs, Njagi said.

According to Robert Karanja, co-founder of Villgro Africa and its chief innovation officer, there are numerous prospects for startups and investors in the local manufacturing of medical products.

Villgro Africa is aiming to build an incubator-fund platform in collaboration with Jaza Rift Fund with a goal fund size of $30 million (Sh3.8 billion) to help entrepreneurs who graduate from the incubator in order to make this a reality.

Drop Access, a company that creates mobile, solar-powered smart fridges that can be put on bikes to distribute vaccinations and other medical supplies, is one of the notable companies in which Villgro Africa has invested. Others include the home healthcare provider Bena Care and the innovative wound care and theatre textile manufacturing company Negus Med.

Rob Beyer, co-founder and executive chairman of Villgro, said, “As we celebrate seven years of growth and impact, we are grateful for a pipeline of quality firms, for funders who believe in the vision, for our board members and mentors who freely give of their time and expertise, and for our clients who entrust their plans to our team.

At the USAID “Democracy Delivers” event held in conjunction with the UN General Assembly, the government of Tanzania, Vodafone Foundation, and USAID pledged to develop a maternal health emergency transportation system that now ensures hospital transportation for thousands of Tanzanian women. Samia Suluhu Hassan, the president of Tanzania, requested a cooperation to extend this initiative across the entire nation. In response, USAID and the Vodafone Foundation pledged $15 million, with $10 million coming from the Vodafone Foundation and $5 million from USAID. Vice President Philip Mpango, who was the government of Tanzania’s representative at the event, pledged to pay for all transportation expenses as well as to provide dispatch personnel right away.Through such initiatives, the program’s reach will be expanded from two districts, which are home to around 1 million people, to Tanzania’s 60 million inhabitants.

In to replicate this model in other sub-Saharan African countries with high rates of maternal mortality, Vodafone Foundation further pledged an additional $5 million, bringing its total investment to $15 million. To replicate Tanzania’s successes elsewhere, USAID will explore further into opportunities to collaborate with the Vodafone Foundation.

Vodafone Foundation and USAID developed a free ride-sharing programme for expectant mothers as part of a 2013-2020 maternal health programme in the Sengerema/Buchosa and Shinyanga districts. In accordance with the programme, a woman experiencing a maternal emergency dials a toll-free number, a health worker takes down her information, and a dispatcher uses that information to find the closest hospital and private taxi driver. The driver is paid when the patient is delivered to the health centre. The initiatives, which cost less than the cost of one ambulance and have transported more than 15,000 women and newborns to date, are now fully funded by the local governments in both pilot areas.

Joakim Reiter, Chief External and Corporate Affairs Officer at Vodafone and Trustee of a Vodafone Foundation, announced a commitment as part of a panel discussion on how businesses and foundations can work with developing democracies that was hosted by Administrator Power, who also announced USAID’s commitment.

The pharmaceutical industry is paying attention to Rwanda, which is quickly becoming a focal point of African attempts to improve regulatory harmonisation, increase access to and cost of medications, and develop a sustainable domestic pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing industry.

The Rwandan government has a goal of developing their nation into a regional centre for the manufacture and delivery of vaccines and medications throughout the continent of Africa. It has carefully positioned Rwanda as a major player in the continent’s pharmaceutical and vaccine production technology in recent years.

In terms of developing its pharmaceutical industry, Rwanda has achieved considerable strides throughout time. The Rwanda Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was established by law in 2018. Its explicit mission is to safeguard public health by policing drugs for humans and animals, vaccinations, and medical equipment.

The foundation of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation (APTF) in Rwanda was authorised by the African Development Bank in June 2022 with the goal of bolstering the continent’s pharmaceutical sector, as well as its industrial and healthcare facilities. The collaboration between Rwanda and numerous regulatory agencies from EU member states was also announced in June by the EU. Following this declaration, a groundbreaking ceremony for Kigali’s first mRNA vaccines facility, which is being developed by the German company BioNTech, took place.

The African Medicines Agency (AMA), which seeks to synchronise the regulatory frameworks for pharmaceutical products throughout Africa, received approval from the African Union’s Executive Council in July 2022 to set up its headquarters and secretariat in Rwanda.

In order to boost the workforce capability of Africa’s pharmaceutical business, Bloom Public Health, an African public health think tank organisation, is planning the development of the African Pharmaceutical Academy (APA) in Rwanda in July 2022.

The APTF, AMA, and APA will assist the regional pharmaceutical market on the continent and improve Africa’s pharma sector’s ability to compete internationally.