In 1976, a Congolese virologist, Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, traveled to the village of Yambuku to investigate a mysterious illness killing patients and health workers alike. He collected blood samples with his bare hands; sent to Belgium, they were identified as the Ebola virus. Honored and recognized by Time Magazine, Nature, and the Royal Society as one of the most consequential virologists of the last century, he went on to develop one of the first effective Ebola treatments.
We have always had talent like Prof. Muyembe. African expertise is robust and growing. And yet, Africa carries a quarter of the world’s disease burden but produces less than 2 percent of its own medicines. What we have lacked is the manufacturing base, the regulatory architecture, and the procurement frameworks to turn that talent into medicines Africa can make, own, and sustain.
Decades of financing and procurement, largely shaped elsewhere, however well-intentioned, left domestic production without the conditions it needed to grow. Decisions that uphold these structures have rarely been made in Africa. I have sat in the same rooms and had conversations about the same topics for years: Local manufacturing. Country ownership. External dependency. Sometimes it feels like déjà vu. And sometimes it makes me sad, because we have known how to solve this problem for far too long.
For many years, vaccines reaching African countries were procured through UNICEF and drugs for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria were funded through PEPFAR and the Global Fund. These systems delivered lifesaving products, but they never fully met our needs. However, because costs were absorbed externally, the gap in production remained invisible. Then COVID-19 came. Countries with production capacity were the first to access vaccines and treatments. Africa was last. Mpox repeated the same pattern. In May 2026, the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, with no approved vaccine or treatment, swept through the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
The question is no longer whether Africa can manufacture, but what will finally make it happen. The following four steps are a good place to start:
First, political commitment at the continental level must translate into operational decisions. The African Union’s African Medicines Agency has entered a new phase to advance regulatory harmonization, safety and quality of health products, and coordinated market authorization across the continent under its first director general. Regulatory harmonization remains the central barrier to unlocking the capacity that already exists on this continent. Without it, factories sit idle, talent goes unused, and intent remains exactly that.
Second, the hub model must be taken seriously. Manufacturing vaccines in every country is neither viable nor sustainable. Senegal anchors West Africa: The Institute Pasteur de Dakar, which has produced yellow fever vaccines for nearly a century, recently inaugurated MADIBA, a project that created the infrastructure to produce 300 million vaccine doses annually. It is now serving as the West Africa anchor in Africa CDC’s continental manufacturing network.
Kenya, where President William Ruto serves as the African Union champion for local manufacturing, brings an existing base of more than 30 manufacturers, leads pharmaceutical exports across the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region, and has committed to becoming the East Africa hub. South Africa, whose pharmaceutical sector is advanced, with an established manufacturing base, the World Health Organization mRNA technology transfer hub, and a regulatory authority now aligned to global standards, anchors the south. Ghana and Rwanda represent the next generation of emerging capacity.
Third, PATH and organizations like ours need a deliberate technical presence focused on product development. The manufacturing agenda requires expertise placed inside the hubs where product development actually happens. It also means developing local talent and keeping decision-making authority inside African institutions. Strengthening that presence across our regional hubs is one of the clearest tests of whether PATH’s new Strategy 2030 is a document or a direction.
Fourth, the private sector must be brought in as a genuine partner. African-owned manufacturers, distributors, and biotech innovators already exist. Now they need procurement decisions, regulatory harmonization, and financing instruments that treat them as core partners in the supply chain. The kind of catalytic funding that lays the foundation before larger funders commit is often what unlocks the next stage. Blended financing is the mechanism, and building the trust that attracts it is the work.
PATH has been part of building this ecosystem. Together with CHAI and Africa Centres for DC, PATH mapped the state of vaccine manufacturing across the continent, generating a picture of gaps and priorities that now informs where investment flows. Working alongside AUDA-NEPAD and national regulatory authorities, PATH has advanced regulatory harmonization, the infrastructure that determines whether a vaccine made in Senegal can reach a person in Somalia without being registered separately in every country in between. Kenya’s National Local Health Products Manufacturing Strategy was developed with support from PATH and partners, positioning the country as the East African manufacturing hub. PATH’s MADE in Africa initiative bridges the gap between policy and production by connecting local manufacturing, regulatory systems, and market access.
Strategy 2030 asks PATH to go further than the policy table by committing to embedding technical expertise within the hubs where manufacturing decisions are made. It treats the private sector as a genuine partner in the supply chain, supports accreditation that moves at the pace of need, and works toward procurement that makes African-made products the preferred choice rather than a charitable one.
In 2030, someone will ask whether we delivered. That question belongs to every health minister willing to make procurement decisions that reward African-made products, every regulator prepared to treat harmonization as urgent rather than merely administrative, and every funder ready to back African manufacturers.
Strategy 2030 is PATH’s commitment to show up fully. We are inviting you and everyone in this ecosystem to do the same.
