Geneva — The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) has reached a historic milestone by procuring – for the first time – a first-line HIV treatment manufactured in Africa. The treatment – lifesaving, quality-assured antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) called TLD (tenofovir, lamivudine and dolutegravir), prequalified by the World Health Organization – was sourced from a leading Kenyan pharmaceutical company and delivered to Mozambique. The volume supplied can treat over 72,000 people per year in the country.
“This historic milestone highlights the Global Fund’s strong commitment to promoting regional manufacturing and capacity building,” said Hui Yang, Head of Supply Operations at the Global Fund. “By fostering production based in Africa, we are strengthening supply security and expanding access to quality-assured, affordable health products across the continent, contributing to global health security.”
The Global Fund has been working with partners such as the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Africa), African Regional Economic Communities, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and Unitaid to advance regional capacity building for manufacturing and procurement in Africa. Notably, the Global Fund has been procuring some antimalarial medicines, insecticide-treated mosquito nets and essential medicines, such as co-trimoxazole, from Africa-based manufacturers, in line with its quality assurance requirements.
“Accelerating and scaling up the procurement and delivery of competitively priced and quality African-made health products, including ARVs, across the continent will continue to be a top priority for the Global Fund,” said Mark Edington, Head of Grant Management at the Global Fund. “We look forward to deepening our collaboration with Africa’s rising health product manufacturing sector.”
Through its NextGen market shaping approach [ download in English | Español | Français | Italiano | Português ] , the Global Fund is working closely with partners to implement interventions that accelerate new health product introduction, support capacity building for regional manufacturing and procurement, and promote sustainable supply chains and capacity strengthening at global, national and community levels. The initial regional manufacturing focus is to support capacity building in Africa, as this is where the biggest gap exists between high-volume demand and available supply of quality-assured health products.
