President William Ruto has said that time is ripe for the African continent to start manufacturing her own medicines and vaccines.
Ruto said that its time for Africa to establish and maintain strong public health institutions.
According to the Head of State, the continent should stop relying on medicines and vaccine imports by enhancing its capacity to manufacture its own.
Ruto spoke during the inaugural ministerial forum by the Africa Centres for Disease Control on the sidelines of the AU summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
He called on African leaders to invest in public health workforce to support institutions with skilled professionals.
The President noted that increased domestic investments in the health sector and robust resource mobilisation will be key to Africa realizing these goals.
Also Read: Former Sports CS Amina Mohamed Appointed Chancellor of Uganda Based University
He said the shift is critical because future health threats and disease outbreaks “are going to be more complex and lethal”.
“Our ability to detect and respond quickly to them and to design data-driven interventions and programmes will become increasingly vital going forward,” he said.
At the same time, Ruto lauded the appeal by the Africa Union Commission to governments, multilateral organisations and the private sector to support the full implementation of Africa’s Public Health Order.
This, he reiterated, will drive global health security.
