Rwanda and the African Union Commission (AUC) reached agreements on Saturday for the establishment of the headquarters of the first-ever African Medicines Agency in Kigali.
This signing occurred shortly after the Rwandan authorities officially agreed to host the headquarters of the AMA within their territory.
In 2019, the countries adopted the treaty to establish the Agency, which became effective in 2021.
The creation of the Agency is part of the AU’s strategy to reduce the continent’s reliance on pharmaceutical products imported from foreign countries.
Africa currently imports 97% of the pharmaceutical products it requires.
The agency’s purpose is to regulate and standardise the pharmaceutical market across the continent, promote local production in Africa, and combat the trade of counterfeit medicines.
Minata Samaté Cessouma, AU Commissioner for Health, emphasizes that Africa must prepare for future pandemics after Covid-19, and the agency’s aim is to propose “African solutions.”
The signing of this agreement marks the first significant step in making the new African Union body, the AMA, fully operational, according to Sabin Nsanzimana, Rwanda’s Minister of Health.
The recruitment of staff will be discussed during the second extraordinary session of the 23 States that have ratified the treaty to establish the agency, which will take place in Kigali in ten days’ time.
