The European Union (EU) has launched a €32 million Special Measure on Manufacturing and Access to Vaccines, Medicines, and Health Technologies in Africa (MAV+) to support vaccine manufacturing in Ghana.
The investment, launched during the Ghana-EU Business Forum, aims to strengthen Ghana’s healthcare sector and increase access to quality health products.
Madam Myriam Ferran, the Deputy Director General, Directorate General of the European Commission, said the European Union was committed to supporting Ghana’s development goals.
She said the investment in vaccine manufacturing and pharma was a testament to the partnership, noting that the programme would not only enhance Ghana’s healthcare sector but also contribute to the growth of the country’s economy.
Through this initiative, the EU will support Ghana in establishing a thriving ecosystem able to produce the needed skilled workforce, strengthen research and development capacities, establish the necessary regulatory system (continuing to support the Food and Drugs Authority), facilitate technology transfer, and build bilateral and multilateral partnerships for vaccine and pharmaceutical production.
The EU’s support for local vaccine manufacturing in Ghana through MAV+ comes on top of the planned joint programming for 2021–2027, which showed the EU’s ability to adapt to rapidly emerging needs and trends and its strong commitment to support and respond to the high political priorities of the Government of Ghana.
According to the Brookings Institute, during the COVID-19 pandemic, wealthy countries, including countries in the EU, led the way in rapidly developing and producing vaccines.
The Brookings Institute said developing countries were not able to deliver even one dose to most of their populations.
Africa, in particular, was struggling with limited access to COVID-19 vaccines, and as of August 31, African countries had administered 94 million doses to the continent’s population of nearly 1.4 billion, with a total supply of 134.5 million, the institute noted.
By contrast, the United States of America, with a population of 332 million, had administered over 375 million vaccine doses.
These inadequacies in developing countries, particularly Africa, reveal the prevailing challenge of vaccine dependency and the inability to produce vaccines.
Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Presidential Advisor on Health, said the government was working together with the EU to bring into fruition the president’s vision to make Ghana a regional vaccine manufacturing hub.
Since 2022, the EU had already started delivering on its promises, giving support to vaccine manufacturing both at the private and public levels in Ghana.
Together with the German Development Cooperation, the EU launched a €3.1 million project aimed at enhancing the capacity of Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority.
This is a crucial initiative to ensure that vaccines made in the country fulfil the quality standards necessary to gain access to regional and global markets.
GNA