The African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation (APTF) could soon kick off its operations in Kigali following a funding commitment from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of Rwanda worth $14 million, a move that is expected to improve Rwanda’s pharmaceutical sector.

The funding commitment to APTF, which is in the form of a grant, was approved by the Board of Directors of the African Development Fund, a financing arm of the African Development Bank.

The Government of Rwanda contributed $1.93 million in addition to AfDB’s $11.96 million grant.

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The Kigali-based foundation is a pan-African agency that was established in 2022 to help address the challenges that African countries face in accessing technology to manufacture medicines and vaccines in their own countries.

According to available data, Africa imports more than 70 percent of the medications it needs at a cost of up to $14 billion annually, while it only manufactures one percent of the needed vaccines.

Commenting on the development, Aissa Touré Sarr, Head of AfDB Rwanda Country Office, expressed optimism in the project’s benefits throughout the continent.

"The leading-edge research and technological innovations of the APTF should improve health care outcomes by providing access to advanced medicines and treatments, tackling prevalent diseases and contributing to the continent’s overall health resilience.”

The funding from AfDB and the Government will particularly be used to set up APTF's headquarters in Kigali with necessary equipment and resources, as well as enable the foundation to recruit experts to guide the foundation's activities, and organize workshops and training programmes to enhance research and manufacturing capabilities.

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The move to operationalize APTF will more broadly enhance research and development in the field of pharmaceuticals, paving the way for future discoveries and innovations made both in Rwanda and across Africa.

President Paul Kagame is the Chair of APTF Advisory Council with other members including Moussa Faki, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director General of World Health Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of World Trade Organization, and Akinwumi Adesina of AfDB, among others.

The foundation is yet another impetus in the medical ecosystem that the African Union is spearheading, including the African Medicine Agency (AMA) –a specialized agency intended to facilitate the harmonization of medical products regulation across the continent in order to improve access to quality, safe and efficacious medical products.