In Gaborone, Botswana, a three-day meeting, entitled Facilitating Technology Transfer to Promote Local Manufacturing and Access to Vaccines, Medicines, and other Health Technologies in Africa, concluded with a significant step forward for technology transfers in Africa. Focused on facilitating technology transfer for essential health products, the event brought together key stakeholders from government, the private sector, academia, and partners and organizations like AUDA-NEPAD, AVMI, COMESA, DCVMN, FIND, GAVI, MPP, PATH, UNICEF, UNIDO, and UNITAID, among others, to delve into and co-create possible strategies for African countries to overcome bottlenecks in technology transfer and produce their own health products. The Local Production and Assistance (LPA) Unit, led by Dr Jicui Dong, Unit Head of the LPA Unit, at WHO Headquarters, co-organized this event with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), in close collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Africa, and WHO Country Office in Botswana, and financial support primarily from the European Union (EU).
Honourable Dr Edwin Dikoloti, Minister of Health of Botswana, opened the meeting in the Opening Session chaired by Dr Jicui Dong. In his remarks, the Honourable Dr Dikoloti highlighted that “An important aspect … is the need to ensure that production of vaccines, drugs and other medical commodities is brought as close as possible to those in need of the said commodities...”. This was followed by welcoming speeches from Dr Jens Windhal Pedersen, of the Africa CDC, Mrs Sandra Åslund, of the EU Delegation to Botswana & SADC on behalf of the Head of Cooperation, and Dr Mohamed Ismail, of the WHO Regional Office for Africa.
The discussions underscored critical elements for successful technology transfer, including strong political will and commitment from governments, partnership and trust among stakeholders, and investment in national and regional capacity building. Enabling policies and conditions are vital, along with considerations for investment and financing, regional collaboration, and robust legal and regulatory frameworks. Ensuring mutual trust and communication, engaging national regulatory authorities (NRAs), civil societies and academia and addressing the skills and knowledge gaps in the public and private sectors for technology transfers of health products were highlighted as important factors, and need further strengthening. The meeting emphasized the need for a coordinated and multi-stakeholder approach to promote successful technology transfer and local manufacturing of health products in Africa.
Building upon the productive discussions held at this meeting, Ms Onalenna Seitio-Kgokgwe, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Quality Assurance, Monitoring and Evaluation and Central Medical Stores, of the Ministry of Health in Botswana affirmed that "If you have not been paying attention to the need to build the local capacity for manufacturing of medicines, medical devices and other commodities, I think COVID-19 was a very effective teacher for us … let us not only reflect but act". Dr Jicui Dong, Unit Head of the LPA Unit closed the meeting, stating "With all the partnerships formed here and strengthened in the past couple of days, they have provided us with new momentum to continue our collaborative effort ". All stakeholders were invited to actively translate the identified action points into actions and maintain their momentum towards fostering a robust ecosystem for technology transfer within Africa. This collaborative approach holds the key to facilitating Technology Transfer for Health Products in Africa.
For further information, please contact: localproduction@who.int.
From left to right: Dr Jens Windahl Pedersen, Senior Advisor, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr Jicui Dong, Unit Head, Local Production and Assistance Unit, WHO; Honourable Dr Edwin Dikoloti, Minister of Health, Ministry of Health of Botswana; Dr Mohamed Ismail, Team Lead, Medicines Supply, Health Infrastructure and Equipment Maintenance, WHO Regional Office for Africa; Prof. Oathokwa Nkomazana, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health of Botswana; Sandra Åslund, National Expert, on behalf of the Head of Cooperation, EU Delegation to Botswana & SADC
Conversation on supporting technology transfer through policies and policy coherence with Mr Marumo Nkomo, Economic Counselor, Permanent Mission of South Africa to World Trade Organization (right), and Professor Frederick Abbott, Edward Ball Eminent Scholar Professor of Law, College of Law, Florida State University (centre), chaired by Dr Jicui Dong, Unit Head, Local production and Assistance Unit, WHO (left)
Panel discussion with Dr Rajinder Kumar Suri, Chief Executive Officer, Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturing Network (left), and Dr Jicui Dong, Unit Head of the Local Production and Assistance Unit, WHO (right)
Group picture of all attending parties, within the middle (seated), Dr Jens Windahl Pedersen, Senior Advisor, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr Jicui Dong, Unit Head, Local Production and Assistance Unit, WHO; Honourable Dr Edwin Dikoloti, Minister of Health, Ministry of Health of Botswana; Prof. Oathokwa Nkomazana, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health of Botswana, and Dr Melanie Saville, Chief Scientific Officer, PATH