The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the European Union (EU), including the European Commission, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and EU member states Belgium, France, and Germany, have announced a five-year commitment of more than €100 million ($114 million) in support of African medicines regulatory initiatives.

The commitment will support the first stages of the recently established continent-wide African Medicines Agency (AMA) and help develop the regulatory capacity of African medicines groups at regional and national levels. Moreover, the EU aims to foster collaboration and the sharing of technical expertise between EMA and AMA and to support several African national regulatory authorities (NRAs) to achieve the minimum WHO requirements for effective regulatory oversight for quality local vaccine production, a critical pillar of the Team Europe Initiative on local manufacturing and access to vaccines, medicines, and health technologies in Africa. Likewise, the Gates Foundation is providing funding toward AMA, regional economic communities, certain NRAs, and various technical partners.

“Africa has achieved an important milestone by establishing the African Medicines Agency as a continental body that will work with [regional economic communities] and the member states to strengthen the medical product regulatory landscape,” said African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) chief executive Ibrahim Assane Mayaki. “The achievement is timely considering the urgent need for the continent to meet the demand for quality, safe, and efficacious medical products for its population. Lessons learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic showed us that a health-secure continent can only be achieved if we can produce 60 percent of the total vaccine demand in Africa by 2040. We look forward to the partnership with EU, France, Germany, Belgium, [the Gates Foundation], and others to advance this continental aspiration.”

“Every person deserves access to vaccines and medical treatments, and the assurance that they are safe and effective,” said Gates Foundation co-chair Melinda French Gates. “This important effort will accelerate equitable access to quality lifesaving health innovations in the communities that need them most.”

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