The President of Senegal, Macky Sall wants to establish a sovereign national pharmaceutical industry.
“In view of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Head of State reminded the Government, the imperative to consolidate a resilient national pharmaceutical industry,” reported the communiqué of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.
According to Sall, this need aims to “guarantee the sustainable sovereignty of Senegal on certain medicines, products and equipment of basic necessities.”
In Africa, most countries such as Senegal are relying on the WHO’s Covax initiative to acquire the Covax-19 vaccines for their populations. In addition to this programme dedicated to the world’s least developed countries, others are negotiating directly with Western or Chinese pharmaceutical companies to purchase them.
Faced with these constraints, the Senegalese president is asking his “ministers in charge of the Economy, Health, Industry and Finance to accelerate, in liaison with the National Supply Pharmacy (PNA) and the stakeholders in the sub-sector, the finalisation and initiation of the implementation of the development strategy for the national pharmaceutical industry, in view of the country’s comparative and competitive advantages.”
ODL/cgd/lb/abj/APA