Africa should step up own vaccines, says cholera-hit Angola

Luanda: Africa should step up production of its own vaccines to deal with a range of health issues, Angola, battling hundreds of cholera deaths this year, said Wednesday.

"To enable a strong and sustainable response to this crisis and future crises, it is essential to put production of medicines and vaccines on our continent," Angolan President Joao Lourenco, who also heads the African Union, told a videoconference with other African leaders, his office said.

"Total dependence on external imports limits our ability to respond and compromises our health sovereignty," Lourenco said during a conference which included World Health Organization (WHO) director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

More than 90 percent of vaccines, medicines, medical tests, and other essential health supplies used in Africa are imported, according to a report by the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDCP) published in April.

Several African countries are battling cholera outbreaks with Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola among the worst hit.

As of June 2, Angola had recorded more than 24,530 cases this year, with 718 deaths, according to the Angolan presidency.

On May 27, the Sudanese health ministry reported 172 deaths from the disease in a single week in the war-torn country.

Africa's dependence on imported health products has proven disastrous during previous epidemics, including Covid-19, Ebola, Marburg and mpox, the ACDCP report said.

That leaves the continent at the mercy of global trade tensions, geopolitical disruption and logistical delays, it said.

Public health emergencies have significantly increased in Africa, rising from 152 in 2022 to 213 in 2024, the report added.