NextGen EXPERTS WORKSHOP – AFRICA’s POSITION ON GLOBAL FUND NEXTGEN MARKET SHAPING STRATEGY
-Karabo Makgato
South Africa hosted a two-day high-level meeting on Africa’s position on Global Fund NextGen Market Shaping Strategy and Local Manufacturing in Johannesburg, from 23 to 24 February 2023. Facilitated by the African Constituency Bureau (ACB) for the Global Fund, in collaboration with African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD), UNAIDS, and the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), the high-level meeting was aimed at developing a roadmap for advocacy and political engagement, drafting a position statement for Africa and its implications for NextGen Market Shaping, and providing inputs to guide the next market-shaping strategy’s implementation among other objectives.
Leveraging on the efforts of the African Medicines Agency (AMA) and AUDA-NEPAD’s efforts to secure Africa’s health security through local manufacturing, the Global Fund’s NextGen Market Shaping approach is intended to accelerate health product introductions at scale; building capacity for local manufacturing, sustainably procure and build country capacity, address the issue of non-Global Fund financed mechanisms as well as focus on the pooled procurement mechanism (PPM) and networked global and regional procurement platforms.
The Global Fund (GF) currently accounts for over 10% of the global spending in procuring pharmaceutical and other health products and at least 30% in Africa. About 65% of its over $30 Billion in grants distributed to more than 130 countries since its inception have been dedicated to procurement and supply management. Africa’s imports of medical products and commodities consumed in Africa account for over 70% and are worth around $14 billion annually. In the Global Fund’s current funding cycle (i.e., 2022-2025), Africa received commodities valued at $6.9 billion, mostly imported from abroad through Global Fund support.
Arguably the most critical conversation considering Africa’s reliance on imported health commodities. When COVID-19 hit, access to vaccines became a contentious issue in the African continent, further emphasising the need for local manufacturing for health products. Representing the Minister of Health at the meeting, Dr Anban Pillay stated that there were three points of discussion around local manufacturing of health products, the first was the role of policy development in local production, the second part included what the continent wanted to achieve with local manufacturing, and the third part was job creation and expertise in that environment.
Africa arguably remains the Global Fund suppliers’ most significant market. Yet, of the entire value chain from growth to production and beyond the last mile distribution, African suppliers in the continent lead only in distribution, which constitutes a mere 2% of the entire Procurement and Supply Chain Management budget. The figures as highlighted above painted a faint picture that needs to be addressed.
The NextGen Market Shaping Strategy proposes to address Africa’s dependence on imports by including a component on local manufacturing through capacity building. ACB further stated that in the build up to development of the Global Fund’s NextGen Market Shaping strategy, the African leadership expressed need for the Strategy to alleviate current threats to its shared goal of contributing to building resilient systems and preparing for pandemic and capability response.
The two-day session was attended by delegates from SANAC, NDoH, the ABC for the Global Fund, African Union Development Agency-NEPAD UNAIDS, and other key stakeholders.