Your Excellency Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb,
Honourable Ministers, guests, colleagues, and friends,
Good morning from Geneva! I regret not being with you in person today.
I want to express my deep gratitude to His Excellency President Abdelmadjid Tebboune for hosting this important Ministerial Conference.
Algeria is truly setting a standard for local production. With over 230 manufacturers, Algeria is meeting 82% of its healthcare needs locally—the highest rate in Africa. This achievement can inspire other nations worldwide.
Boosting local and regional production is vital for health on our continent. One major lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic was the risk that comes from relying too heavily on a few countries for manufacturing. This created serious gaps in access to vaccines and health products. We’ve seen similar issues arise with outbreaks of diseases like mpox, Ebola, and Marburg, combined with ongoing challenges from malaria and tuberculosis.
Today’s global health landscape is facing tough disruptions. To tackle these issues, we must strengthen our epidemic and pandemic readiness. Investing in local production is essential for achieving universal health coverage and combating threats like antimicrobial resistance.
This is why the WHO Pandemic Agreement, adopted during this year’s World Health Assembly, emphasizes the need for sustainable local production and the transfer of technology. Currently, WHO Member States are negotiating the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system, known as the PABS Annex, to ensure fair access to vaccines and medical products in future health crises.
WHO is actively supporting local production in various ways. In 2021, we hosted our first virtual World Local Production Forum, followed by meetings in the Netherlands and the UAE. Additionally, the mRNA Technology Transfer Programme launched in 2021, sharing knowledge from South Africa with 15 partner countries.
We’ve also set up the WHO Biomanufacturing Workforce Training Initiative, which has trained over 7,000 individuals globally, with a training hub based in South Korea. Our efforts extend to helping national regulatory authorities improve using the WHO Global Benchmarking Tool, which focuses on nine regulatory functions. Nine countries in Africa have already reached a Maturity level 3, and we’re supporting others, including Algeria, in enhancing their regulatory frameworks.
The operationalization of the African Medicines Agency is also transformative for continental capacity. Last year, the WHO Regional Committee for Africa laid out a strategic plan for strengthening local production over the next decade. Some African nations are now producing more than half of their required medicines locally.
While we’ve made significant strides, many low- and middle-income countries still face major barriers in access and supply. Challenges include poor-quality data that hampers demand forecasting, limited funding, and reduced research capacity.
WHO remains dedicated to helping Member States overcome these hurdles. Addressing regulation, financing, technology transfer, research, and digitalization is crucial. After all, the right to health means having the right products to keep us healthy.
Thank you for your commitment to achieving this right.
