"Made in Africa, Used for Africa" leads China-Africa medicine cooperation

NAIROBI -- At Lancet General Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a nurse is expertly administering a saline drip to a patient, who is visibly relieved as the treatment takes effect. Such scenes are quite common at the hospital, where dedicated healthcare workers strive to provide quality care under challenging conditions.

Like many other East African countries, Ethiopia has long faced significant shortages of essential medications, including large-volume infusions, primarily due to the lack of domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing. For Africa at large, the lack of medical supplies left it particularly vulnerable to epidemics like malaria, cholera and smallpox.

In recent years, however, an increasing number of Chinese pharmaceutical companies have set up factories across the continent, boosting local medicine production and strengthening healthcare autonomy for African countries.

MADE IN AFRICA

In 2018, Chinese company SanSheng Pharmaceutical set up a factory in Ethiopia. With an average annual output of approximately 10 million IV bags, 300 million injection vials, and 5 billion solid tablets, the factory significantly reduced Ethiopia's reliance on imported essential drugs.

Inaugurated in the Eastern Industrial Zone on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, the factory primarily produces essential medicines in tablets, capsules, large-volume infusion, small-volume injectables, and oral solid dosage forms, said Jiang Zhiwen, general manager of Sansheng Ethiopia Pharmaceutical, in an interview with Xinhua.

"Previously, the country was importing a significant percentage of large volume parenterals while the current national demand is fully covered by local producers where Sansheng is taking the largest portion", said Kassahun Alemu, technical manager of the company.

"The company produces the medicines Ethiopians truly need," Jiang said. "Previously, most of these medicines had to be imported, but now there's no need to source them from abroad. This not only saves foreign reserve for the country but also gradually helps Ethiopia develop its basic industries."

Sansheng is among several Chinese pharmaceutical companies that have invested in and established factories in Africa in recent years to localize the manufacturing of medicines and medical supplies.

In 2015, Chinese company Humanwell Africa Pharmaceutical established a factory in Bamako, Mali's capital, the first localized drug factory in Mali, and a modern pharmaceutical factory in West Africa with high standards.

Former Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said the project would help the country produce drugs independently. "Humanwell put an end to the history that Mali couldn't make medicines, and will benefit Malians," Keita once said.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese biotech firm BGI Genomics set up diagnostic reagent factories in multiple African countries, including Ethiopia, Togo, Angola, Gabon and Botswana. It also established laboratories across Africa to support COVID-19 detection efforts.

In October, Chinese company Jijia International Medical Technology signed a memorandum of understanding with Zambia's Industrial Development Corporation for the construction of an oral cholera vaccine plant in the country.

The agreement will make Zambia the first African country to manufacture the cholera vaccines, said Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema. "This partnership will save lives, boost productivity, and serve humanity," he said.

USED FOR AFRICA

At the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China unveiled 10 partnership action plans, one of which focused on health, where China pledged to "encourage Chinese businesses to invest in the production of medicines and vaccines in Africa to increase local medicine production capacity."

Fosun Pharma, the Chinese pharmaceutical company that introduced Artesun -- an innovative injectable artesunate malaria treatment -- to Africa over a decade ago, has started construction of its first industrial park on the continent, with the first phase of the project to be completed in 2025.

The park, located near Abidjan, the largest city of Cote d'Ivoire, is expected to produce 5 billion tablets per year once all three phases are completed, benefiting the entire West African region, said Su Li, vice president of Fosun Pharma.

"Once completed, Ivory Coast Industrial Park will bring nearly 1,000 job opportunities to the Grand-Bassam area east of Abidjan," she said.

In addition, Chinese pharmaceutical companies, including Fosun and Sansheng, have launched training programs and provided scholarships and internships for healthcare workers and pharmacy students from African countries, cultivating more local talent for the African pharmaceutical industry.

In August, Africa Bio Chem, a Chinese pharmaceutical firm, signed an agreement with Tanzania's Zanzibar government to produce advanced innovative medicines and set up a bio-vaccine production base.

"The Chinese have brought in a lot of medicines, they have trained our people, they have built the capacity of our people, so we are very thankful for that, and we are hoping to continue this cooperation," said Tanzania's Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi.

"We have to ensure that Africans can start to manufacture their vaccines and medicines thanks to the support we are getting from China," said Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), in an interview with Xinhua.

Noting the importance of promoting local manufacturing of medical products and building strong healthcare systems in Africa, Kaseya emphasized that working with China enhances the ability of the Africa CDC in particular and African countries in general to achieve their priority goals.

"My vision of Africa is that Africans have to take the lead on their development. They need technical support on specific topics like the development of local manufacturing. The idea is to strengthen and reinforce local skills," said Jean-Marc Bouchez, executive president of Tridem Pharma, a subsidiary of Fosun Pharma.

"Chinese pharmaceutical companies share this vision of 'producing in Africa, for Africa'," he said.