AFRICA is constructing a comprehensive health ecosystem designed to unlock local manufacturing, strengthen regulatory systems, and ensure equitable access to medical products for its 1.5 billion people, a senior development official announced at a landmark continental conference.
Symerre Grey-Johnson, Director of Human Capital, Institutional and Social Development at the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), outlined ambitious progress in establishing trusted institutions and harmonised regulatory frameworks at the 7th Scientific Conference on Medical Products Regulation in Africa (SCoMRA VII) in Mombasa, Kenya.
“To secure health sovereignty and equitable access to medicines, Africa must strengthen its regulatory systems and harmonise health product regulation to unlock investment, trade, and manufacturing,” Grey-Johnson told delegates at the conference themed “Unlocking Local Manufacturing of Medical Products, Trade and Pooled Procurement through Regulatory System Strengthening and Harmonisation.”
Continental Architecture Takes Shape
The presentation revealed that AUDA-NEPAD’s Continental Health and Wellbeing Cluster is driving transformation through a $190 million comprehensive framework built on five strategic pillars of investment and financing, supporting seven major health and wellbeing programmes.
At the heart of this infrastructure are newly established continental institutions designed to create a unified African health agenda:
- Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa (PMPA) – driving local production capacity
- African Medicines Regulatory Harmonisation (AMRH) – creating standardised approval systems
- African Medicines Agency (AMA) – establishing a continental regulatory authority
- African Health Workforce Strengthening (SANMW) – building human capital
- Africa Centres for Disease Surveillance (AU-3S) – enhancing outbreak response
- Integrated Vector Management (IVM) – controlling disease transmission
- African Continental Strategy for Health Access (ACSA) – ensuring equitable distribution
Regulatory Harmonisation Drives Progress
SCoMRA serves as the pivotal continental platform reviewing progress from the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonisation initiative toward the establishment of the African Medicines Agency, with major stakeholders now aligned on advancing health industrialisation and regulatory coordination.
“The vision is to transform Africa’s health economy into a driver of innovation, jobs, and inclusive growth, underpinned by trusted, harmonised, and resilient regulatory systems,” Grey-Johnson emphasised.
Demographic Imperative
The urgency of building this health infrastructure is underscored by Africa’s demographic trajectory. The continent’s population will reach 2.6 billion by 2050 and 3.9 billion by 2100, accounting for 27-39% of the global population.
Grey-Johnson stressed that this continental framework focuses specifically on manufacturing, trade, and pooled procurement – recognising that Africa’s health sovereignty depends on its ability to produce, regulate, and distribute medical products across integrated regional markets.
The Mombasa conference brings together regulators, manufacturers, trade officials, and development partners to accelerate implementation of these continental health initiatives, marking a decisive shift from fragmented national approaches to coordinated pan-African health systems.
The 7th Scientific Conference on Medical Products Regulation in Africa continues in Mombasa, Kenya, with delegates working to operationalise regulatory harmonisation mechanisms that will govern medical product approval, manufacturing standards, and cross-border trade across the continent.
